In The New

2011-07-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed by KYW new radio on the subject of how bride's choose wedding gowns. We discussed where they shop , what they buy and how important is the dress. Here is the link to the text of the interview.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/07/18/fashion-tastes-economy-changing-the-look-of-area-brides/

Wedding Wire's Brides Choice Award 2011

2011-01-26T10:44:00.001-08:00

Phila, PA January 26, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Elegant events has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Consulting and Design

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Elegant Events stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the

and

Canada

. We applaud Elegant Events for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Elegant Events is among the very best Wedding Consultants within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/elegant-events-philadelphia/e43a26521cc5ed0b.html
For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

Tips for Hiring a Bridal Consultant

2011-01-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

He asked, you said yes, now what. Weddings are not dreams. They are real celebrations of a new stage in life you are about to enter. Certainly the most important event of your life should be celebrated with elegance and style.

Planning a wedding will require approximately 200 hours of your time. If you are like most people you do not have this much extra time to spend and continue with life as you presently know it. Additionally designing the aspects of your wedding and selecting the wedding professionals who can deliver the service you desire can be a mystery to those who do not do this everyday. When asked the question, what do you envision some common answers are:

something simple yet elegant

something classy

something unique.

The more adventurous bride will say “a blank space that I can make my own”.

To save time, stress and money consider the services of a bridal consultant. A bridal consultant is here to serve you, listen to you very carefully, and guarantee your plans will be executed exactly the way you envision. Here are some guidelines to follow when hiring a bridal consultant

Make sure you know exactly what is included in the fee. The fee you pay should be a flat rate based on the scope of your wedding. Factors that go into assessing scope are the level of assistance you will require, the number of events you are planning and the number of people required to execute your day. Find out how often you will meet, if they will come to your service provider meetings, how much planning you will do on your own. Think of things that you really would want to do on your own, if any. Make sure both of your jobs are clearly discussed and understood.
Perhaps you don’t need help with every little element. The consultant should be able to offer you different service options. Make sure you understand the number of hours included in each option. Any service other than full should have a cap on the number of hours. Find out the cost of additional hours if the cap is exceeded. If the service includes coverage on the wedding day, the fee should include the cost of the consultant as well as the assistants.

Make sure you feel comfortable with the consultant. A consultant could have done hundreds of wedding at varying scopes from firehouse to a villa on a private island in the South Pacific but if they cannot adapt to your style and vision, you might be unhappy with the final outcome. Assess how well the consultant can articulate your ideas and make suggestions that compliment your vision.
Ask questions regarding length of time in the business, number of weddings done each year, each weekend and each day. You might also ask if wedding planning is their full time job or if it is something that they think is fun to do. Many consultants are born from brides or mothers who enjoyed planning their own or their daughter’s wedding and now think this something fun to do. Making a happy occasion happier is a great job but it is first and foremost a job and should be treated as such.

Confirm membership in professional organizations. I highly recommend the Association of Bridal Consultants as a source for securing a consultant. This is the only organization that assigns it’s members designations from Novice to Master bridal consultant and requires it’s members to complete continuing educational hours annually to maintain upper level designations of Professional, Accredited and Master bridal consultant.

Make sure you ask for and check your consultant’s references. Once again the Association of Bridal Consultants does a great job of verifying the honesty and integrity of it’s membership and has an office of compliance dedicated to investigating complaints raised by brides.

Most wedding consultants are well connected with other professionals in the wedding industry, and direct you to service providers that will do a great job, work within the budget you define and often offer you a discount because you are being referred by a consultant who they know will make there job easier. Ensure the consultant is not getting a referral fee from wedding professionals. ABC members agree to a code of ethics against this practice. If you chose some of your own wedding professionals, make sure the consultant is willing to work with anyone you select so that everything goes smoothly on the day.

Ensure the consultant has a backup and contingency plan for the rare emergency where they are suddenly unable to make the wedding. The consultant should be able to supply a staff member or a peer of equal caliber as themselves.

Place a value on your time and stress level before you consider the cost of a consultant an added expense. It is rare that you will experience an increase in your budget when you hire a bridal consultant. In fact the opposite is true. You will avoid budget overruns and get the most value for your wedding dollars when you invest in a bridal consultant.

Here’s to a happy New Year and a happy New Life.