Wedding planners have one major thing in common with brides: One size doesn’t always fit all. Just as there are brides with big and small budgets, there are wedding planners who do a little and wedding planners who do a lot. Now that you’re on your way to becoming a certified wedding and event planner (or maybe you’re already an LWPI graduate!) it’s time to think about what services you will offer. You may be interested in working with brides who only want a full-service coordinator, and we can understand that desire. Afterall, that’s where the money is! But there are many brides out there who don’t have the budget to hire you full time, but they do have the budget to hire you, perhaps, part-time. Here is a quick rundown of the typical services that wedding planners offer.

Full-Service Planners. This type of planner is for the bride with too little time for her professional life, much less the time needed to plan her wedding. She wants you to plan every little detail, and she’s willing to pay you for it. While there will be times you’ll want the bride’s input she expects you to make the decisions and plan a fabulous event, all the while putting “her” signature touches into the details! If you go this route be careful of a few things. First, don’t take on more weddings than you can handle in a month! Second, planning a wedding takes time, and time is money so don’t undercharge. And third, make sure the client is someone you can work with because you’re going to be communicating with her a lot.

Partial-Service Planners. A partial-service planner is there for the bride who wants to do most of the planning herself but may need a little guidance along the way. She may hire you to take care of the food and schedule of events at the reception. Or she may want your advice when it comes to choosing the right vendors for her money. Again, time is money so be upfront with how much time the bride wants you to work and charge her accordingly. (You may want to set a minimum, too, to make it worth your while.) You’ve worked hard and pounded the pavement to fill your head with All Things Wedding, and it’s important that you market yourself accordingly.

Week-Of and Day Planners. Let’s be honest: The week leading up to and the day of the wedding are the craziest times for brides, regardless of whether they have a planner or not. However, the brides who are smart enough to hire week-of and day-of planners can be nervous without letting it get the best of them! In our opinion, a day-of planner is especially worth his or her weight in gold. A good planner will take control of any situation that arises without letting the bride even know that there is a situation. A day-of planner should ideally be in communication with the bride at least a few weeks before the big day to make sure the details are taken care of. After that all the responsibility falls on your shoulders! A flat fee for week-of or day-of services would be a good idea. That way all parties know what’s involved and what is to be expected. The only caveat? Being a week-of or day-of planner puts a lot of trust in the bride. If she didn’t cross every T and dot every I it could be you, her wedding planner, who’s left holding the bag. Tread carefully in this type of business relationship and choose your brides carefully. You may even want to consider a face-to-face meeting before you accept this job, where you can ask all the questions pertinent to making a bride’s wedding day something you’d be proud to be a part of.

Whatever services you offer remember one thing: You’re worth the price, whatever it is. You’ve been well-trained (hint, hint) and you know your stuff. So strut it! Be the best coordinator in your area, and you’ll be taking on only full-service brides before you know it! Word-of-mouth marketing is the best kind there is!

Photo courtesy of We TV

While we must admit that it would be amazing to be a bride featured on WE TV’s Platinum Weddings, it’s also pretty darn cool when you’re a featured wedding planner on the show, too! That’s what happened to LWPI graduate Aimee Wendell of 2Chic Events and Design, who is a featured planner on season five of the hit show. Aimee runs her company out of Sacramento, Calif., and was pleased as punch to be working with Frank and Charity, whose nearly $1.5 million wedding is featured on Platinum Weddings. We know that many of you are following your dream of becoming professional wedding and event planners by becoming certified through Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute. Aimee’s story is proof that dreams can come true! We wish her - and all of you - continued success! Be sure to check back soon for a full interview with Aimee, but in true wedding-planner fashion she’s super-busy right now as wedding season is in full swing! Until then check out these links and learn more about Aimee’s amazing experience with WE TV.

* Read all about Frank and Charity’s amazing wedding.
* See a list of their vendors (including Aimee!)
* Read an article about the experience in Sacramento Bride and Groom.
* Aimee’s website, blog and contact information.
* Follow Aimee on Twitter.

LWPI is excited to announce that it has joined forces with world-renowned design icon Preston Bailey. Together, they will create and launch the first event-design course of its kind, based on Bailey’s 30 years of experience with such celebrities as Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Uma Thurman, Joan Rivers, Donna Karan, Liza Minnelli, Matt Lauer, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ivanka Trump and others.

Preston Bailey’s Signature Wedding and Event Design course will allow students to experience the step-by-step processes and techniques utilized by one of the globe’s leading wedding and event experts, industry pioneer Bailey. This new course is a comprehensive “how-to” for the industry, providing real behind-the-scenes footage, photographs and documentation, including insights into the wizardry that can make a wedding a one-of-a-kind, magical event for a couple and their guests.

Starting this summer, Preston Bailey’s Signature Wedding and Event Design course will roll out to nearly 2,000 academic institutions around the United States . Dependent upon each school’s administration, the course will be available to both full-time college students in regular classroom environments and adults in continuing-education programs. It will also be made directly available to students through an online program hosted by LWPI.

“Event design has been a life changing experience for me,” said Bailey, the founder of Preston Bailey Designs. “I am excited to share my passion for design by working with the experienced team at The Wedding Planning Institute.  It’s a privilege to help others harness their talents to create weddings and other events that are truly unforgettable occasions.”

Are you interested in enrolling? Good news! You can enroll today! (The class will be available in both English and Spanish.) Want more information on this exciting opportunity? Check out the following links:

* More about the partnership and the course.
* Enroll for the class today.
* Take a tour of the course (English).
* Take a tour of the course (Spanish).
* Visit Preston Bailey’s website.

Photo courtesy of Disney Bridal

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You never know what a bride might request when you’re a professional wedding and event planner! Case in point: Have you ever wondered which Disney princess your bride is? Actually, let’s rephrase that, because every bride is a princess at heart, right? It’s what fairy tale she is that really matters. So for all of the brides out there who grew up watching and pretending to be Snow White. Or Cinderella. Or Aurora - the new Disney Bridal line is for you! (Or you, the Disney bride’s certified wedding planner!)

That’s right; we said Disney Bridal. The Disney company, known for all things princess, has recently launched its own bridal line, designed by couture designer Kirstie Kelly. According to Disney, “Known for her vision, quality and timeless looks, Kirstie Kelly designs for America’s most fashionable celebrities and socialites. She has spent the past 12 years specifically creating exquisite and original gowns for today’s most beautiful brides. With every gown, Kirstie embodies the unique personality and subtle qualities of each client. It is with this philosophy that she brings to life Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, creating a line that captures the unique spirit and beauty of each Disney Princess.” And Ms. Kelly isn’t just designing the gowns: There are also rings, accessories and gowns for the wedding party to choose from, too.

Photo courtesy of Disney Bridal

Perhaps your bride is most smitten with the princess Cinderella. Her gown would be a classic ballgown, made with tulle and satin, sewn with sparkling silver thread and accented with crystals. Or maybe your bridal client connects more with the mermaid princess Ariel. Her gown would have a fully beaded bodice, with a skirt made of layered netting, a clear nod to her ocean dwellings! But in fact there are several lines available in each princess style, and they are available for purchase in stores across the country.

It might sound somewhat silly on the surface, but we do in fact agree that every bride should feel like a princess on her wedding day. What better way to do that than turn to the official princess company of the United States?!

There are so many precious moments when it comes to fathers and daughters and weddings. They include: the first time he sees his little girl in her wedding gown; the time they share as he walks her down the aisle; the moment he gives her away, kisses her cheek, and possibly chokes up at the thought of saying goodbye; and of course there is the father-daughter dance, which is always sure to be tear-inducing! Weddings are gorgeous, joyous occasions, but they also have their bittersweet moments, which make them so special. Not every bride involves her father, or even has a close father to involve, but for those who do the memories are precious. As we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day this weekend, LWPI wants to take a moment to talk about fathers and the role they play in weddings!

Father of the Bride, with Steve Martin

* Father of the Bride - the 1995 version, that is. If you’re like many of us you watched this movie over and over and cried and cried. It made some of us miss and think of our fathers, and it made many of us dream for a perfect wedding just like Annie’s. Here’s one of our favorite quotes: “Who presents this woman? This woman? But she’s not a woman. She’s just a kid. And she’s leaving us. I realized at that moment that I was never going to come home again and see Annie at the top of the stairs. Never going to see her again at our breakfast table in her nightgown and socks. I suddenly realized what was happening. Annie was all grown up and was leaving us, and something inside began to hurt.” See what we mean? Bittersweet. Precious. Exactly how we all want our dads to think of us on our special day!”

* The Writer of the Checks. This is always a huge joke, and maybe your dad said he also felt like a Walking, Talking Checkbook when you got married, too! But it’s a topic that deserves some serious attention. The father is definitely supposed to be involved in budgeting, and it’s helpful for him to have a few facts before he jumps into things feet-first. About.com shares some great tips on educating dad and getting him involved in the budget.

* The music is always an important part of the reception, and when it comes to the father-daughter dance the bride wants to choose something just right. Here are a few of our favorites, which you may want to keep as suggestions: Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle, My Girl by the Temptations, Unforgettable by Nat King Cole and The Way You Look Tonight (you can’t go wrong with any version of this classic tune!)

* And after the speeches are given, the champagne is drunk and the bouquet is thrown we hope all brides remember to give their dads a hug as they head to their getaway car! Annie, from Father of the Bride, calls her parents from the airport before she leaves on her honeymoon, and we think that’s a very sweet thing to do. Brides may also want to write their dads a thank-you letter. (As their certified wedding and event planner you may want to offer to be put in charge of tracking down dad and hand-delivering their note!) The father-daughter relationship should be celebrated at a wedding, and we hope these suggestions get your gears turning! Have you ever had a bride request something very sweet to honor or remember a father?

We wish all Fathers of the Bride a very Happy Father’s Day this weekend! There are likely to be a lot of weddings this weekend, as we’re in high wedding season. We hope all fathers are able to bask in the glow of their beautiful daughters and be proud of what they’ve seen their daughters accomplish!

Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute is excited to welcome Nadia Lewis of N’Chantment Events to the blog today. According to Nadia, “N’Chantment Events is a Wedding and Event Planning business owned and operated by Nadia Lewis, a Certified Wedding and Event Planner. It is located in the Bronx and provides service throughout NYC. It was established in 2010. N’Chantment Events provides quality service that exudes elegance and charm through creating an atmosphere that clients, as well as their guests, will not only enjoy but will cherish as an experience of their lifetime while meeting every client’s budget.” Today Nadia will discuss a few ways to make every groom feel special. Afterall, it’s their special day, too! Here are a few of her tips:

1. Have a sports-themed shower for the groom and a few of his best friends and male family members, packed with beer, chips, pizza, sandwiches and Buffalo wings. The gifts should be exclusively for the groom.

2. Make the groom’s cake a must at the wedding, and incorporate the groom’s favorite hobby into the design.

3. Let the groom walk down the aisle to a song of his choice.

4. Incorporate the groom’s favorite color into the reception. Assuming that the groom likes navy blue, for example, a bride could incorporate it into the table linens or use it as the font color on menu cards.

5. Make plans for a surprise performance for the groom by either the bride or a paid entertainer, such as singing the groom’s favorite love song.

6. Honor the groom’s mother by allowing her to walk with the bride and her mother down the aisle.

7. Let the groom be completely in charge of an aspect of the wedding, such as the music or photography.

8. Send the groom and his groomsmen to get pampered, for example by planning haircuts, massages etc.

9. Give the groom a wedding-day gift of something he loves to do or watch. Sports tickets or personalized sporting equipment are great suggestions.

10. Get the groom’s opinion on male-geared favors for the reception.

Thanks, Nadia, for these fabulous ideas. It’s a great suggestion to make sure that the groom enjoys the wedding day, too, and also feels special. Please be sure to also visit Nadia’s blog and follow her on Twitter. If you are also a graduate of LWPI and would like to submit a guest blog, please contact Abby Langston, Lovegevity’s managing editor, at abby (at) lovegevity dot com.

Long, loose ponytail. Courtesy of bridalhairpictures.com

When it comes to bridal fashion there are more decisions to make than simply choosing The Dress - although the dress does guide a lot of a bride’s choices! A close look at bridal fashion for the 2010 Fall/Winter season shows that romance is ruling the runways.

Many brides are showing their softer, princess side this year with lavish, embellished gowns, and stylists say that the perfect hairstyles to complement such gowns are soft, feminine ones that highlight a bride’s shoulders and put the focus on the gown - think long, low ponytails with loose curls or waves.

Low, loose bun. Photo courtesy of James White International Hair Stylist.

Another simple style to consider is a take on the classic bun. In this case it becomes looser and romantic, sitting lower on the head, with pieces of hair falling in just the right places.

And for the bride who wants a bit more form while still keeping the romantic feeling? Stylists suggests such styles as the classic French pleat - a la Audrey Hepburn - but looser and softer to help the bride’s look stay ethereal.

With these gorgeous styles in mind we can easily picture a romantic, fall wedding filled with candles and warm colors and a bride with a flowing, off-white gown with tons of lace details. Natural elements and colors - warm reds and golds - would be perfectly accented by a bride with loose, flowing hair.

French Pleat. Photo courtesy of Amsale.

Or perhaps as a bride’s certified wedding and event planner you would offer the perfect winter dream wedding, filled with a bride in a crystal-embellished gown, with a soft, low bun, accented with more crystals, standing at the altar. Any of these suggestions make up the perfect, romantic wedding day.

So remember to, yes, help your bride plan her wedding from top to bottom, but also help her set her own personal style from head to toe. She’s expecting you to create the perfect package, and the small details - such as the perfect hair style - are the bow on top!

Photo courtesy of the Bellingham Herald

* It was one mother’s dream to see her beautiful daughter walk down the aisle, but terminal cancer would have kept her from seeing this dream come alive if not for the loving support of her community. Bev McKissick, who passed away May 31, was able to watch her daughter Kaitlin get married last June. The wedding was made possible by an “outpouring of community donations”, and the date was moved up to make sure that Mrs. McKissick would be well enough to attend. A wedding is only as special as the people in attendance, and in this case there were a few silent guests - perfect strangers.

* RE-store employee and recent bride Rachel Blair suggests two key rules for DIY brides: Start early and always carry a tape measure. She offers classes at her store in Michigan, and she has developed the Salvage Bride Toolkit. Some people call it thrifting; some people call it wedding planning.

* Trying to plan a multicultural wedding? Expert Marilyn Ambra shares a few tips that every wedding coordinator should keep in his or her back pocket. She gives advice on “navigating those often-turbulent waters” of bi-cultural weddings (and the challenges their families present!)

* A certified wedding and event coordinator must be good at delegating tasks. That’s about the only way we know to successfully pull off a big wedding! But it might be helpful if we could run background checks on our helpers. Okay, sounds harsh, but then again maybe it doesn’t sound harsh when your helper runs away with all the couple’s gift money!

* The Father of the Bride is also lovingly referred to as Mr. Checkbook. Yeah, yeah, we know, that’s an old joke, but it doesn’t really ever get old. Ask any father! How can you make your dad feel special? How about a Father-of-the-Bride registry at Home Depot? Well, it was just a thought….

So, as always: Tell us your favorite wedding stories of the week, or share the links with us! You never know what you’re going to run across in this industry.

Ever so often you’ll find yourself face to face with a bride who wants to push the envelope. We’re not talking cupcakes at the reception or guys in her bridal party - we’re talking fashion. There is a growing number of brides who want to skip the Victorian white gown and instead summon their inner Scarlett O’Hara and opt for a red one. Or blue. Or baby pink. We’ve seen them all, and the right bride can pull it off, but it does take some confidence and finesse.

If you have a fall 2010 bride who is up on the trends and wants to make a splash at her ceremony a colored gown may be the perfect suggestion. A lot of top wedding-gown designers have actually shown dresses recently that have no white in them. Zilch. Nada. Consider the following:

In our opinion a bride should wear whatever she wants. It’s her day, afterall, and we’d venture to guess that a bride who wants to wear red - or purple or black - has friends and family who expect nothing less. And if she decides she wants to wear white? Well, that’s what vow renewals are for, right? And her certified wedding and event planner will be there to guide her along her second time, too.

Photo courtesy of IFEMA

Every bride - and certified wedding and event coordinator - knows about the importance of attending local bridal shows to meet vendors and check out the newest wedding trends. But the International Bridal Fashion Exhibition takes the world of bridal shows to a whole other level. The exhibition was recently held in Spain, and the four-day wedding-fashion fair brought together 132 companies and brands to represent the best ideas in bridal gowns, groomwear and formal attire for the upcoming 2011 season. We may be just now entering wedding season in America, but the international market is already looking ahead. And when it comes to running your own business - like so many of LWPI’s graduates are - looking ahead is always a good thing.

About 3,600 hundred people attended the event, and 28 designers presented their collections. The companies that participated are already reporting favorable business results, saying they have expanded their portfolios and are already building relationship with potential new buyers. This all means that the 2011 wedding season is already looking up, which is good news for wedding professionals all across the world.

The collections shown at the international event indicate that organza, gauzy fabrics and exquisite lacework are some of the trends that will dominate wedding fashion in 2011. Textured fabric is also expected to be hot, with silk garza and satin leading the way. Bright whites appear to be less popular for 2011, while natural shades - bone whites and light beiges - will lead the way.

The event also put a focus on the whole wedding, showing that weddings are no longer a one-day event. “Weddings have moved beyond the basics. These days families with good spending power look forward to a wedding that’s truly memorable, extravagant and encompasses the luxuries of life,” said Qatar Expo CEO Mr. Karim Zarka. “IWED 2010 brings together all the options that make a wedding complete. Be it wedding designers, honeymoon destinations, gifts, chocolates, beauty or wedding venues, IWED 2010 offers everything to organize your dream wedding with ease.”