Archive for December, 2009
Merry Christmas
Friday, December 25th, 2009Scam emails
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Continuing with our publishing of scam emails please see below another one that has been sent to members of the UKAWP. To view previous ones go to our scam category here. It is impossible for us to publish all the scam emails but they tend to follow the same formula so hopefully by reviewing the ones we have online it will help you avoid getting caught out in the future.
Hello Dear
My name are Jamaine Giggs, I am looking for a professional wedding coordinator/venue who can plan and handle a civil wedding ceremony/arrangements for my clients that will be coming to your country.
So, I need to know what you can offer as they have a budget of about $23,000USD which includes funds for every arrangement that we might approve for you to provide for us.
The items we will need includes;
Venue,Dresses,video,photography,make-up/hair,artist,food and drinks,fireworks if affordable.etc.The wedding will be taking place within the 15th of Jan;2010,and we are expecting a total of 30 guests which includes 8 VIP’s and the bridesmaid.Please confirm the room availability and whether you accept credit card (VISA,MASTER CARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS) payments and get back to me with your rates and total cost of four rooms,with your payment system so that you will be sent a credit card to make a deposit payment for the rooms before our arrival.
Best regards,
Jamaine Giggs.
Interactive workshop
Monday, December 21st, 2009
We are delighted to announce that Zoe Lingard one of our full members and the person we call whenever we have a blogging query, will be running a blogging workshop at WPE.
Students will be invited to bring their laptops to the seminar in order to take part in this interactive session.
To learn more about the seminar please visit WPE , if you are interested in attending or speaking email the directors at info@ukawp.com
Office Closure
Friday, December 18th, 2009Please note the UKAWP office will be closed from the 21st December 2009 until the 4th January 2010.
We look forward to providing you with more educational and inspiring posts in the New Year.
Step by Step Training
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009Last weekend I trained a super bunch of ladies up in Manchester. The course was Step By Step which is our newer course which aims to take new planners right through how to plan a wedding. Five students had attended our Business Practicalities course within the last couple of months so it was great to see how far some have come since then with two businesses launching in January and another in February. Thanks for being a delightful group and good luck.
Step by Step - Dec 2009
Showcase Wedding: Dream Occasions
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Today we bring you the 3rd installment for our series of showcase weddings from members of the UKAWP. We must admit there has been a bit of a gap since Simone shared her showcase with us back in April and Kelly in February but we hope you can forgive us. Today’s showcase is from director Bernadette Chapman of Dream Occasions and features a mixed faith, dual venue wedding in May 2009.
At the end of 2007 I was hired by Daniel and Aniela to organise their wedding for Spring 2009. The wedding was never going to be typical with a civil ceremony, mixed faith blessing and afternoon tea in one venue, then cocktails and dinner at Aniela’s parent’s home. They were both clear on having a wedding that reflected their personalities and tastes, the end result was just breathtaking. The wedding is due to be featured in You and Your Wedding Spring 2010.
Daniel and Aniela
The first task at hand when hired was to find a suitable venue near Sudbury, Suffolk where we could hold the civil ceremony, Jewish/Christian blessing and an afternoon tea. We visited many venues from converted windmills to country manor houses, however we eventually choose a barn which seemed perfect with the lovely long aisle and dias for the registrars. We booked the registrars and started talking with the venue caterers about the afternoon tea requirements, however it soon become clear the caterers were not quite right for this wedding. So after much deliberation we cancelled the venue and went back to the drawing board and we are so glad we did as we found the stunning Mildenhall Barn in Suffolk. The owner was wonderful and understood what we were trying to achieve with the wedding. Even better was the local caterer who was able to create exactly what we required for the afternoon tea.
There was a lot to organize for the venue, I hired in white chairs for the ceremony, 3ft tables for the afternoon tea, linen and aisle runner. The grooms mother made some beautiful bunting which we tied up in the courtyard, the florists produced some stunning jugs filled with natural flowers to keep the natural country feel to the ceremony and tea.
The second element of the wedding to organize was the reception held at Aniela’s parent’s home in Suffolk, from our discussions we knew we didn’t want a traditional marquee. We investigated various options from Indian tents to yurts, eventually we agreed upon giant tipis.
Although an expert in marquee weddings this was the first tipi wedding I had organized and as a result I learnt a lot for future events. We had 2 tipis dedicated to dining, 1 for the bar and jukebox and the last was the stage and dance floor. Aniela and Daniel wanted a bright wedding and were happy to mix and match elements, i.e. no matching of napkin ribbon to the bridesmaid dress! This was a relief and I knew bright colours would be fabulous in the tipi, I realised however creating the ‘mix-match’ look is a lot harder to create because if styled incorrectly it could have gone terribly wrong.
One thing I was certain on was not using ivory linen within the tipis as the colour would be bland against the tipi canvas. I know this was one area Aniela and Daniel were unclear on but because we had such a strong relationship they were willing to trust me. The blue cloths on the day and purple napkins looked fabulous, any other colour would have paled into significance. The florist created bright displays of flowers with a mix of low and high, we hung origami birds from the tipi poles and outside in the garden. 
Instead of a table plan we hung guest names from a willow tree, in fact this blew over once so I know Nikki had to do this twice! There were so many design details that it is impossible to list them all but do look out for the wedding in You and Your Wedding in Mar/Apr 2010.
On the day because there was so much to organize with dual sites I hired Kelly from the Bespoke Wedding Co and Nikki from Jigsaw weddings to oversee the tipi site whilst my assistant and I were at Mildenhall for the ceremony. It was wonderful having staff I could trust in my absence.
If you are a UKAWP member and wish to have a wedding showcase, please let us know!
Photo Credit: The wonderful Kerry Morgan
What’s your USP?
Friday, December 11th, 2009Back in October Kelly did a post titled ‘Being Yourself’ following on from one on Think Splendid and I thought it might be prudent to follow on from this. I regularly review my business at Dream Occasions and think about ways I can improve. In order to do this I have to think about what my USP is. After all there are so many brilliant planners out there now so why hire me? I can totally relate to what Liene says on her post “You have a new logo, new fonts, and maybe even a new workflow system - more streamlined to deliver better customer service. You’re different than the competition. Until the competition catches up.” This has happened to me so many times over the years!
But rather then get frustrated about it, I concentrate on my business strategy and what makes me unique. My USP is my knowledge and expertise of marquee events in East Anglia, I can honestly walk onto a field and work out the logistics instantly, this has only come by due to the number of marquee events I have organised.
Its worth noting that sometimes your USP will change, I remember Simone from Dimples events saying her USP was being ‘the only UKAWP member in Kent’ , as the UKAWP has grown so has our membership in that area.
Andrea from Fabulous Days offers a unique service for Mother of the Bride which has been incredibly successful bringing her new business via Mother referrals. This is her USP and works well with her personality, it wouldn’t work for everyone.
So when working out your default diary (you do use one don’t you?) why not schedule some time to review your business and in particular your USP?
I’d love to hear your views about what works for you.
Read more: Think Splendid
WPE ‘10 - Wedding Planning Excellence
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009The directors at the UKAWP can’t believe it is under 3 months to WPE ‘10, the must attend event for all trading wedding planners. Throughout the autumn we have been working hard booking the venue and confirming professional speakers for the 2 days. Because there will be so much to tell you we decided to launch a new website especially for WPE ‘10 which can be found here . On this website you will see the schedule and all speakers booked so far.
Throughout the next 3 months we will also update you on speaker profiles and schedule changes both on our UKAWP blog and the WPE website. As always anything YOU want to see at WPE just let us know.
Bernadette, Kelly & Sandy
Pocket Positive XI
Monday, December 7th, 2009“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the horizon of the spirit.” Helen Keller
Member Focus: Caroline Gould
Friday, December 4th, 2009In our regular Member Focus series I am delighted to introduce you to Caroline from Endless Love who is one of our associate members.
Caroline Gould
1. Why did you become a wedding planner?
I worked as a hotel based wedding planner for 2 years and really felt that I could do more than organise the venue and catering. I started my research at the beginning of this year, including completing the UKAWP certificate in wedding planning course and launched Endless Love in September.
2. What’s your USP?
My experience, all the jobs I’ve had have been in either event organisation, management or leading projects so I’ve learnt to be super-organised and I absolutely love it!
3. What’s your signature dish?
Well, when I applied for Come Dine With Me, this was going to be my menu:
Cherry tomato and goats cheese tart, followed by chicken and parma ham saltimbocca with seasonal vegetables, followed by raspberry and vanilla terrine.
Unfortunately I was unsuccessful - my friends and family tell me I’m too ‘normal’!
4. Do you have a favourite venue?
I’ve recently visited Woodhall Manor which is near Woodbridge in Suffolk. It’s a beautiful Manor House and banqueting suite. They have a lovely walled garden where the ceremony can take place and if the sun decides to shine it can be a really special day. You can also hire the entire Manor House for smaller parties or a big family weekend get together. My favourite part of the venue is the entrance - I love long tree lined driveways, so romantic…
5. How would your clients describe you?
Calm, organised (I’m very rarely seen without my clipboard!), friendly and hard working.
6. How do you unwind?
Spending time with my family; my husband and my daughter Darcey, who will be 2 in February. Failing that, a Saturday night in with a bottle of wine and Strictly Come Dancing suits me just fine!
7. If you could plan a celebrity wedding, whose would it be?
I love the glamour of an old Hollywood wedding so Audrey Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor would be fabulous.
8. Is the job as glamorous as you thought?
Yes, because I didn’t think it would be glamorous! There are glamorous elements to the job but mostly its very hard work. The most rewarding thing for me though has to be the grooms face when he first sees his bride making her way down the aisle…
9. Which wedding planner’s work do you respect/admire and why?
Preston Bailey and Mark Niemerko are my all time favourites. Preston’s vision to change a seemingly bland venue into an absolute masterpiece is so inspiring. Also, all of the UKAWP planners that I met at the recent networking event were really lovely and gave me lots of hints and tips for starting out.
10. What’s your biggest achievement since launching?
Actually launching! In the year I launched I also changed jobs, had a baby and started my business - my life now is completely different to a few years ago, but I wouldn’t change it for anything!
11. What is your vice?
Shoes! My collection is well into 3 figures now.
12. What trends are you seeing for 2010?
People are thinking more about the environment, using local suppliers and local foods for their weddings is good for the environment and you don’t have to compromise on style.
