This month’s Real Wedding comes from Randi Lawrence Moore, the owner of Randi Lawrence Moore | Couture Wedding Gown Salon in Atlanta, Georgia. You can read more about Randi in her Instructor Spotlight (Chattahoochee Technical College - North Metro Campus), and she has a few articles available at The Wedding Report’s Wedding Tips and Trends blog. Today she gives us some of the details of the wedding she planned for Michael and Tomeka Stevens.

“Working with this couple was a joy. Who says love doesn’t come later in life? With this being their second marriage, Michael and Tomeka wanted to go out with a bang! The love they share is so sweet and innocent, and they wanted to celebrate in style! Their tropical theme was wonderful, and their acrylic invitations set the tone. It was a great wedding with wonderful vendors in the Atlanta metro area. Their inspiration was: The Second Time Around is With the Perfect Person, My Best Friend!” How cute is that?

Are you an LWPI graduate or instructor? Are you interested in having one of your weddings featured? Contact our managing editor for more information, and for more on the vendors used in Michael and Tomeka’s wedding see the following links.

Wedding Planner: Randi Lawrence Moore
Wedding Gown: RIVINI
Photographer: Sapphire Photography
Drapery: Event Drapery
Wedding Cake: Perfect Wedding Cake
Venue: Ventanas
Ceremony Location: Hilton Garden Inn
Ceremony Decor: A Legendary Event
Videographer: Creative Video Moments
Florist: Fuji Floral Design
Stationary: Sandi Spells Design
Ice Sculpture: Ice Sculptures Unlimited
Catering: Epicurean Drama Events
Linen: BBJ Linen
Singer: Treble Clef Sounds

Everybody knows that Florida is a place that brides flock to for their weddings. If you’re an aspiring wedding and event planner - who wants to get certified to take your business to another level - Ana Cruz is just the person you need to talk to! She’ll be teaching an upcoming certified wedding- and event-planner course at Miami Dade College, North Campus, Miami-Dade County.

Ana Cruz

Ana has had her own business, Ana Cruz Event Planning, for going on 11 years. Certification is an important part of a career in wedding planning, she says, and “aspiring wedding and event planners today have so many wonderful tools to get started in the business.” Students should know that this business “is a lot of hard work. While many consider a party just ‘fluff,’ people hire a planner because they want to mark a milestone in their lives, help their business to be successful, or raise money for a worthy cause. All these things are very important and should always be treated at such.”

Ana didn’t plan on being an event planner. “I initially wanted to be a teacher,” she says. “Right out of high school I got a job at a bank, where I took on positions that involved such event-planning tasks as the company picnic, holiday party, etc. I really loved that part of my job and realized it came very natural to me. By the time I received my teaching degree I was sure I wanted to be an event planner. I was promoted to marketing manager and loved my job but a restructuring caused my job to move to New York, and I had too many ties in Miami to take the leap. In 1999 I took a position planning events for the American Diabetes Association and was very qualified thanks to having been a volunteer for the March of Dimes for almost 10 years, in which I helped with fundraising events. While my background was in corporate planning and later in not-for-profit event planning, I did plan a few weddings along the way for friends and relatives. In 2001 I started my own business, giving myself a year to either make it or go back to corporate America. I have never looked back!”

One of Ana’s weddings was featured on the Style Network in 2005, changing her client base. Suddenly more brides were coming to her asking for an amazing event like the one they saw on TV. While Ana plans all types of events, 70 percent of her clients are now bridal. She was also featured on the Style Network’s hit show “Whose Wedding is it Anyway” from 2005 until 2010, and she has also been featured on the network’s destination-wedding show, “Married Anyway.”

When it comes to planning, Ana’s favorite part of the job is “being able to be a big part of a milestone in someone’s life. It is a gift to be able to create an amazing memory for a client. With my corporate and charity events, it is very rewarding to create a vehicle to help my clients showcase their business or make money.” And the toughest part? “Balancing work and family. This is not the type of career where you can take a sick day. You have one shot to do it and do it right. My husband and two young boys, ages 8 and 11, are supportive and proud of what I do. There is a quote I once saw posted in the Florida Panthers’ locker room that said, ‘The will to win is easy, the will to prepare is difficult.’ Everyone wants to have an amazing event, but not everyone can or wants to put in the effort to make it happen. Luckily for people that hire a great planner, they do not have to.”

Ana Cruz Events / Facebook / Twitter
Certified Wedding and Event Planner Course
Miami-Dade College - North Campus
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Register for the class

Today’s post is the second of three parts on budgeting for destination weddings. Our guest writer is Chezelle Rodriguez, the owner of Chezelle Dezines, an event-planning and graphic-design company in Puerto Rico. She specializes in destination weddings, and you can read more about Chezelle’s work in her Real Weddings From LWPI Graduates post.

Photo Courtesy of Saul Padua Photography

What Couples Often Overlook and What to Expect – Part II

Tips on How to Tackle that Budget Monster!

With the huge increase in the number of DIY couples who are making their own wedding invitations and favors, it’s obvious that they are looking for ways to cut down on wedding spending. There are plenty of cost-saving ideas online.

Take your scissors to the guest list early and stay firm. Some couples opt out of having children in their wedding for multiple reasons, including reducing their wedding budget. Some child meals can cost just as much as an adult dinner.

The general rule is to set aside 6 percent of a wedding budget for your gown, but you can get away with far less. When figuring the cost factor in alterations, dry cleaning (some wedding planners offer a steamer), underpinnings, veils and accessories.

Receptions:

Receptions typically take up about 40 percent of the wedding budget but can increase to 55 perecent depending on the venue and menu. Marrying in the off season helps. Timing is everything: Roughly 70 percent of weddings take place between May and October. With this said, however, event spaces and vendors are always eager for your business at other times of the year, which can help reduce your costs.

Call ahead and ask event spaces, hotels and vendors about their down time. You will be surprised to see discounts from about 40 percent off compared with peak season. This is very important when planning a destination wedding, especially since you might not be familiar with the seasonal quirks of the area. Plan your festivities to take place between Sunday and Thursday, the slow days at most resorts, and you might benefit from some considerable discounts. Saturday evening is the prime time for weddings and prices will soar! Also keep in mind that government-owned properties have the most reasonable fees and have beautiful unexpected places to marry.

BYOB!

Some venues allow you to bring your own liquor. This will save you a boatload of money, costing about $20 a person as opposed to $60 a person at a traditional venue. Negotiate bringing in the liquor or having a bar per consumption. In some cases this will save you thousands of dollars! When buying the liquor ask the store if they have a buy-back policy.

Photography:

Photography averages 7 percent to 10 percent of an overall budget. Beginning packages start at about $1,000, and an entire day’s booking is about $3,000. One quick way to cut down on that cost is to ask for a “shoot and burn” package (very popular with small weddings and elopements). What you get is a photographer for four hours and all the unedited, minimally retouched, high-resolution images on a DVD. This allows couples to share their photos with friends and family as well as on social networking Websites. I always tell my clients that if they absolutely love the style of the photographer then splurge. After the wedding is over all you have left are memories and the pictures!

Flowers and Décor:

Flowers and décor eat up about an 8 percent of your budget. Since in-season flowers will save you money, search online to see what will be available on your wedding day. Average costs of bouquets range from $100 to $500 depending on the flowers. The more types of flowers that go into the bouquet, the more expensive it will be. Spend the money on flowers where it will make more impact. A ceremony might last up to 30 minutes, while a reception will be four hours and where guests will spend the majority of their time. Alternating flowers with candles will give your reception a romantic feel that won’t weigh down your budget.

Another great way to reduce your budget is to rent Par 64 or Par 56 lights and bases. The right lighting can save you big dollars from having to transform a space with flowers and other decorations that can cost much more.

Cupcakes or Mini Cakes?

This trend is catching on fast, and I’ve seen my clients choose them instead of a traditional wedding cake. Venues often charge a cake-cutting fee ranging from $2.50 to $6 a slice.

Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part III of Chezelle’s great series!

LWPI is delighted to once again welcome Sally Lorensen Conant to the blog! Sally is also known as the Gown Care Lady, and she has a wealth of invaluable knowledge for brides and certified wedding and event planners. Be sure to visit her Website, the Association of Gown Preservation Specialists, too.

Six Things that Can Spoil Your Wedding Day

1. Drooping bustle: Whether your bridesmaids simply cannot figure out how to fasten your bustle or your gown is very heavy or someone just plain steps on your train, you will wish you had asked for extra hooks or buttons to keep your gown from dragging on the ground. Plan ahead, and attach several safety pins to the lining near the hem of your gown so they will be there when you need them. Here are some other tips for emergency gown.

2. Flowers that hide your gown: If you are going to carry a large bouquet, practice holding your flowers low. If you hold them too high they will hide your gown when you are walking down the aisle, and you will see more flowers than gown when you look at your video and your photographs.

3. Veils and hairstyles that hide your face: Make sure your veil frames your face — not hides it — after you lift your blusher. And remember not to obscure the right side of your face with your hair. That’s the side next to the groom, the side everyone wants to see when you are at the altar.

4. Relatives taking photographs: Uncle Charlie may be a great guy, but he is not trained to stay out of the way so that others can see you when you exchange your vows. And it is also not fair to relatives who want to be part of the celebration to make them spend the day behind a camera with one eye closed. Let a professional capture all those special moments and share them afterward with your family.

5. Unplanned schedule of events: Avoid leaving hours and hours between the ceremony and the reception if you possibly can or some guests may party so hard they do not make it to the reception. If there must be a long delay, offer guests some options such as a lounge in the reception venue or, for out-of-town guests, a list of nearby things to do. On the other hand, do not forget to allow enough time for photographs. No one really minds if you miss hors d’oeuvres  with your guests, but a dinner that gets overcooked because you are still taking pictures is a disaster. If you are having your ceremony and reception at the same location, you might even consider posing for your formal photographs before the ceremony, and then you will have extra time to spend with your guests.

6. Kids at weddings: If you plan to have a very young ring bearer or flower girl, be sure each gets to bed early the night before the wedding. Designate someone other than mom or dad (if they are in the wedding party), to watch them during the ceremony. For children at the ceremony, whether they are in the wedding party or not, things such as snacks in a Ziplock bag that opens quietly, clear (in case of spills) juice in boxes, and a coloring book with washable markers will hold their interest. At the reception, serving children’s meals promptly and having books and crayons on hand will help keep them at the table.

One more tip: After all your thoughtful planning, try to relax and enjoy each moment. It will all go by much too quickly, and your friends and family are there to share the joy of your special day — not to complain about missteps along the way.

Adapted from The Seven Biggest Wedding Mistakes by Rod Jovanelly at A Touch of Color Photography in Connecticut.

If you follow Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute on Facebook you already know that LWPI has partnered with The Wedding Report to put certified wedding and event planners in front of thousands of brides and possible clientele. But have you seen all of the recent posts at the Wedding Ideas, Tips & Trends blog? They’re written by LWPI graduates and instructors, and we at LWPI are so excited to have them share their expertise with the wedding industry.

* Nicole Brennan of Lovely Girls Events writes about the awesome and fun trend of Late-Night Wedding Treats and Truckies.

* Randi Lawrence Moore, the owner of Randi Lawrence Moore | Couture Wedding Gown Salon, gives tips on how to maximize a wedding budget.

* Shafonne Myers of Making Your Event Special says you can save lots of money by doing your own makeup, and she shares some ideas on how to make your makeup look professional, too.

* Chezelle Rodriguez, who specializes in destination weddings at Chezelle Dezines, has advice on how to storm- and hurricane-proof a wedding, great advice during hurricane season!

* Amanda Allen of MMD Events is excited about the fall-use trend of using burlap at weddings and special events, and we are, too! So rustic yet chic.

* And Aimee Wendell of 2Chic Event & Design has written several articles, including her latest on how to deal with post-wedding depression.

Are you an LWPI graduate or instructor? Are you interested in writing for The Wedding Report? Contact us for more information on how to get started. We’d love to work with you!

Today’s post comes from Kate Harrison, the author of The Green Bride Guide. Kate and LWPI offer a Green Weddings course, which is a great way to attract new, eco-conscious clients to your wedding-planning business. Are you interested in becoming a certified wedding planner? Check out LWPI’s classroom and online courses today, and be sure to consider bundling the Green Weddings course, too.

In 2010, the Green Bride Guide launched the country’s first green wedding gift registry, where every product is hand picked by a team of experts for beauty, quality and environmental savings. The registry was created to make going green easy for couples by offering a complete collection of eco-friendly alternatives for everything from bedding to dishes. But there are more incentives to create a green wedding gift registry than just convenience. Here five reasons why your choice to create a green registry makes a difference:

1. Green gifts support the green economy: Every year, Americans spend $20 billion on wedding gifts (about $8,000 per wedding) and 70% of gifts are purchased off a gift registry. When you create an eco-friendly registry, you ensure that the money spent by your guests goes to support eco-artisans and companies taking significant steps to green their business practices. Every product in the Green Gift Shop is tagged with its country of origin, eco-certifications, and eco-strategy, so you can quickly assess its social and environmental benefits and filter your search to find products that represent your values as well as your style. The “why we love it” part of the product description provides additional information about the artist or company that manufactured the piece.

2. Green gifts are better for the environment: You may not realize it, but many of the conventionally produced products we buy are detrimental to the environment. For example, cotton, which is often touted as a “natural fiber,” is actually one of the most heavily pesticides crops in the world.  Most crystal is still made with lead (which is bad for you and for the environment), and almost all of the pottery in the United States is now manufactured is Asia under lax environmental regulation. Because many of our home goods are shipped in from overseas, their transport also contributes to global warming. The companies that Green Bride Guide works with take active steps to decrease their environmental footprint at every turn, from using organic, recycled or local-produced materials, to shipping in recycled packaging.  Plus, the site offers free carbon neutral shipping, neutralizing the impact on climate change through alternative energy programs.

3. Green gifts are unique: Quality green home goods are hard to find (and we know – we are always looking for them!) Because most of the artists and companies the Green Bride Guide represents work on a small scale, they are not found in major department stores and are hard to locate online. When you create a green wedding gift registry, you are adding interesting, unique and one-of-a-kind items to your wishlist – items that will reflect your taste and values for years to come.

This is the final journal entry from Tara Martin-Crawford, an LWPI graduate who has been interning at Preston Bailey Designs the last three months. Tara is a graduate of Preston Bailey’s Signature Wedding and Event Design course, and she is the first LWPI graduate to intern with Preston. All graduates of this course have the opportunity to apply for an internship. Will you be next?

For the final week of my internship I worked briefly with the design department. I am definitely a computer-literate person, but I don’t have experience with graphic design or any of the programs used to create renderings and floor plans. In Preston’s course he gives a list of suggested programs that can be used for event design. I was told by employees in his design department which programs they have found work best for them. Vectorworks is what they primarily use to create floor plans. For renderings they use a combination of Google Sketchup, Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. For people who are just starting out with graphic design, these programs may be a bit too advanced. AutoCAD, I was told, is a good program that is a bit easier to use. Another option for those who are not computer savvy is to hire a third party to create your computer images. There are a lot of companies that charge reasonable fees to turn your ideas into computer-generated images.

I was able to sit down and have a chat with Preston on my last day to get some lingering questions of mine answered. During my internship I didn’t really have the opportunity to work directly with him because most of his time is spent working directly with clients or with the design team. In any event, one of the questions I asked him was to outline what the process is from the initial client inquiry up until the event is produced. This is what Preston said: When the client first calls or emails PBD the sales department gathers as much information as possible about the event and what the client does and doesn’t want for it. The client then comes into the office and meets with Preston and a member of the sales department to discuss the event. Preston said he always has images and ideas prepared to present to the client based on the information gathered during the initial inquiry. He will also present the ideas that he has specifically for his or her event, but is careful not to give away too many ideas in case the client doesn’t commit to working with PBD. (He doesn’t want his ideas stolen and used elsewhere). After the initial meeting and the client decides to hire PBD the company secures a non-refundable retainer fee which is usually around $25,000, depending on the size and overall cost of the job.

Then the design team goes to work and comes up with three different design options. They create renderings and storyboards, which are then presented to the client at the first of two presentations. Once the client decides what look he or she likes during the first presentation, a second presentation is scheduled. For this one the design-element options are actually created for the client. Again, three options are generally presented. During the second presentation the client can choose specific items that he or she likes and/or make suggestions for how things should be modified. Once all elements have been selected and agreed upon the floral and production departments begin to price out the overall cost for the event. Those costs are then transferred to a proposal (with mark-ups, of course) and given to the client for approval. After it is signed the client is required to make a deposit equal to 50 percent of the entire cost of the job. It is not until this is done that orders can be placed for the supplies and elements needed to create the event. The final balance is due two weeks before the event date.

During my time with PBD I learned that the second client presentation can be pretty expensive to create. I asked Preston if that cost ever exceeds the amount of the initial retainer fee. He said that PBD tries very hard not to allow that to happen but there are instances when it does. In the cases when it does happen, he and the rest of the team need to sit down and take a closer look at what they think the overall cost for the event is actually going to be because it could be more than they anticipated. It takes a lot of experience to be able to price out an event without actually taking the time to price everything out. If you have the time and the resources to price things before you present them to a client go ahead and do that just to be sure that you are working within and maximizing the budget. It’s always surprising to find out what things actually cost because it’s usually more than what you might think and you don’t want to provide your clients with options that they either can’t afford or aren’t making the most of the money they have to spend.

My internship at PBD went by so fast! At the same time, though, I felt like I had been there forever. Everyone that I had the opportunity to work with was awesome. They all made me feel welcome and comfortable while giving me the chance to learn about and experience doing something I love. I appreciate everyone’s help and guidance so much. There is a reason why Preston Bailey Designs is one of the top event-design companies in the world: It has the best staff in the industry! I am really going to miss working with and seeing them all, but I will always be grateful for and remember everything that I learned during this experience.

Congratulations, Tara, on a job well done! LWPI is excited to follow what is sure to be an amazing career. Join us in wishing Tara good luck as she puts what she’s learned from LWPI and Preston Bailey to work in the real world!

Good news for Floridians! An LWPI certified wedding- and event-planner course is starting soon at State College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla., Sarasota County. The fall instructor will be Anna Pohl, who says her students can look forward to several field trips and some great speakers.

Anna Pohl is a certified wedding consultant with an MBA and BFA in fine arts. She says her background in business, paired with her creative side, are invaluable in navigating clients through the world of event planning. One of her strengths, she says, is figuring out what wedding style is best for each client: traditional, beach, modern, elegant, vintage, green or ethnic. She also tends to go with the creative flow and her events and weddings often counter what’s considered the norm.

She says her favorite thing about wedding planning is that “being a planner is truly knowing that I have helped couples and families to celebrate a very important occasion in their lives, their wedding.” And the toughest part? “Probably staying completely organized at all times. No slacking off for a wedding planner!” she says.

She is the owner of Day Planners (of Sarasota, Bradenton and St. Petersburg, Florida), and even before starting her own business she was an award-winning director of catering and events at Mattison’s in Southwest Florida. When she began her career she focused on event planning in the biotech industry, working on international meetings. Among her other awards and recognitions are: People’s Choice Award - Best Planner; the Herald Biz Bash Flash Award - Top 20 Event Planners in Florida Under the Age of 40; and the Gulf Coast Business Review’s 40 Under 40 Award. Anna events have been written up in several publications, including Kiplinger’s, The Knot, Sarasota Magazine, SRQ Magazine, Scene Magazine, Biz Bash Flash, Taste Magazine, Nuovo and several local newspapers. She was also recently interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, along with Preston Bailey, about wedding planning.

She wants her students to “never forget that you should do your very best to make your wedding clients as happy as possible. You should always strive for perfection and give the utmost care to your clients, their families and their friends. You shouldn’t be doing this profession if you don’t truly mean to do all that you can for those getting married. Go above and beyond, and then your clients will be thrilled and you will be blessed.”

To learn more about Anna, check out her Website and Facebook page. To register for her class, visit the LWPI Website.

Certified Wedding and Event Planner Course
State College of Florida
7131 Professional Parkway East
Sarasota, Florida 34240, United States
Sarasota County, Florida
9/22/2011 to 12/2/2011
Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m.
Register for the class