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Brides and Wedding Photographers

June 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is my honor to feature our guest blog post series.  Introducing Michele Tremblay…

 

Dear Reader, I have recently been thinking all about brides and their flowers and was inspired to write this post.

Dear Modern Bride,

There are so many things to consider when you are planning your wedding…..Ceremony, dress, wedding party, food, flowers, honeymoon, where will you live. The list goes on and on.

For some reason I was looking at my own wedding pictures today and suddenly it hit me…I knew exactly what I needed to talk to you about.

Your Pictures…and your photographer.

Truth is I don’t like my wedding pictures. They cost plenty of money, my photographer broke his leg before my wedding and sent a different fellow. BAD. Had I really thought about it I would have found someone else, BUT….I didn’t.

The really important thing though is that although I don’t really care for my wedding pictures, the photographer was not the problem…I was.

Please allow me to explain. I did not have a clue about what pictures I wanted. Saw all of the sample books and assumed (incorrect) that my photographer would know exactly what pictures needed to be taken. MY photographer probably did know what pictures needed to be taken, but, oh yes, he wasn’t there. His buddy was. I had never met his buddy before my wedding day. Another error!!!

So here is my short list of suggestions when selecting a wedding photographer:

1. It is your wedding. Instruct your photographer to do exactly as you wish. Ask for his/her suggestions because they will have had plenty of experience, but you need to have thought this through. Understand what your wedding pictures mean to you. Do you want a journal of the day or do you want only candid shots? My opinion is that your photographer should be able to do both.

2. What do you want pictures of? Personally, I loved my wedding dress. It was the exact dress i wanted. I do not have one picture where you can see the whole thing. It did have a train and I definitely wanted a picture of the whole dress…didn’t get that. In every picture there is either a big piece of furniture in front of me or we are in a place where there was not enough room. Getting married in January, plans could have been made to get pictures taken where there was enough space (like at my reception maybe?)but I didn’t know to do that. Plan for this. If you do it on your wedding day ad-hoc you will be disappointed with the results.

3. Who do you want pictures of? Again….my pictures are lacking. My Mom died when I was 19, well before I got married, but she has 5 sisters. I would have really cherished a picture of myself with all of her sisters. Didn’t think of it. What a lost opportunity.

4. Do you want any pictures of your flowers, the ceremony, the centerpieces, the cake, the band, the whole reception room, the receiving line, you getting ready for the wedding…you get the drift. Be very specific. If there is a picture you want or you think you might want, tell your photographer! You can always skip it if you don’t like it.

5. Most Important! Once you have decided all of these things find one good friend who knows your guest list, has a sheet with all of your wishes and introduce that person to your photographer. Of course, your photographer will also have a copy of the same sheet. That way, If you want a picture of Aunt Josie and Uncle Fred, you won’t have to point them out. Your designated friend can do that for you.

6. Do as much pre planning as you possibly can…it will relieve you on the day of your wedding so you will have only one task. Enjoy each moment and have a bundle of fun!

Michele Tremblay

www.micheletremblay.com

For the last 30 years Michele has been designing flowers for all kinds of people, from brides to prom goers, from dining rooms to boardrooms. Starting out as a fine artist (painter) and moving into the flower world gave Michele a vision that set her work apart from other floral designers. Designing flowers in a more relaxed,”unfloristy” way was always the goal when working for private clients.

Still doing artwork and designing various products from table linens to greeting cards to holiday decorations, Michele continues to have a unique and diverse style she brings to her work.

Her goal is to help people have an ease with flowers and encourage them to keep beautiful arrangements, simply and easily, in their homes and also to help brides approach the wedding flowers in a “can do” sort of way that allows for personal preference without breaking the bank.

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The Secret Cut-Throat Life of Wedding Planners

May 9, 2011 By 4 Comments

Wedding planners seem sweet, don’t they? They’re just a bunch of benevolent people who are passionate about love and who want to see your wedding be as magical as you’ve envisioned.

They’re busy socialites who know everyone and will use their ties to help you out… right?

This is the rosy portrait we all see, but not all wedding planners are created equal. In fact, some are downright DIRTY!

Here’s what I mean:

  • There are wedding planners who feel they need to monopolize venues. They pay venue owners big bucks for exclusive rights to their location to keep other wedding planners out. Also, you may encounter a wedding planner who is receiving kickbacks from venues and will refer you to whoever is paying the most money – even if it’s not in your best interest.
  • There are wedding planners who catch wind that a bride has interviewed other consultants and proceed to trash-talk the consultants to tarnish their competitions’ reputations unjustly.
  • There are wedding planners who are very purse-lipped about the industry when asked and do not wish to lend any advice to aspiring or existing wedding planners because they fear it may hurt their business.
  • There are wedding planners who use blackhat SEO to gain better search engine rankings – paying for link farms and social media friends, paying people to click on their competition’s PPC ads (to drive up costs for them), and using web design for keyword trickery.

Even though we’re recovering from a recession, there is still a massive market for wedding planners due to favorable portrayal in the media. Word-of-mouth has been positive about the benefits of having a helping hand for the big day. According to the Association of Bridal Consultants, there are approximately 10,000 bridal consultants – which means for every wedding planner, there is 220 potential couples. Of these couples, about 19 percent will actively seek a wedding planner, so – at that rate – each wedding planner should still see 42 prospects per year. Because there is so much work, wedding consultants should embrace a sense of cooperation, rather than competition, says Maggie Daniels and Carrie Loveless in their book Wedding Planning & Management: Consultancy For Diverse Clients (2007).

Truth be told, the best way for wedding planners to get ahead is to network with other consultants and share knowledge. Networking with other planners can open up your world and expose you to service providers you never knew existed. Many wedding planners differentiate their business to a specific niche that is different than yours. So, for example, if you have a bride who tells you she wants a very traditional Jewish wedding — and you deal in mainly outdoor weddings with a justice of the peace – you can forward this referral to another planner you know who does traditional Jewish weddings. Then, when the other planner gets someone who wants an outdoor wedding, you’ll get a referral right back.

Also, it would behoove you to partner with caterers, florists, places of worship and venues to offer joint packages where you assemble all the paperwork for the couples to sign and you are responsible for collecting the payments and paying vendors. This sort of arrangement would be beneficial for everyone involved. As long as you are not monopolizing a vendor or exchanging financial kickbacks, it’s a totally legit way of doing business.

The average bride interviews 3-4 wedding planners to find the right personality, specialization, level of service and arrangement. Do not take it personally! The right bride will work with the right wedding planner and you cannot expect to be everything to everyone, no matter how good your service is. Let the right brides breeze in and remember that your obligation is to your client – whether it’s finding the right florist, caterer, musician, venue, or other wedding planner!

Just my $.02  ;-)

What do you think?  Let me know by commenting below or connect with me on my Facebook wall HERE.

Thanks!

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Fire Your Business Coach

April 12, 2011 By 13 Comments

Dear Nameless Coach,

I hired you believing you would help me build my business to the best it could be and learn from you so I could take my business to the  next level. Instead, you completely lied about your experience to make yourself “look better.” You never really asked about my goals or visions; instead, you made some for me that didn’t jive with what I want for my business and lifestyle. You charged me thousands of dollars, but for what? You put on the air that your business was thriving, but truth be told, I was one of only two clients you possess and your good intentions turned sour as you tried to invent new ways to charge me for “extras.” Where is your integrity? I thought you were someone with honesty and professionalism. I was wrong. You, sir, are fired.

Sincerely,
Disgruntled Client

In cases like this, the temptation to swear off business coaches for good is strong.

Don’t let one bad apple daunt you…

Fire your business coach. Don’t even feel bad about it. You paid for an honest service and you deserve honest results. It IS possible to find a good, upstanding business coach! Look for someone who feels your success is their success. Find someone who publishes their ethics openly and lives with integrity each and every day.

Are they members of professional organizations?  Does the business coach place emphasis on verifiable data and statistics? They should be able to! If your business coach has a successful, thriving business, you can bet he or she will ensure your business is just as fruitful.

In the end you are responsible for your own actions, the decisions you make for your own business and how you proceed.  A coach/mentor can guide you but by no means guarantee results.  You have to step up to the plate for your own destiny and go “balls to the wall” with fervor for what you want out of life and business.

What are you waiting on?  The right time?  The moon to turn blue?  Make a decision and rock it out with every ounce that is uniquely you.

Get advice from someone who has done exactly what you would like to do. So if a coach has built a 6-figure or 7-figure business and that is what you are striving to do….then that is someone you want to consider partnering with.

On the same note, it would be out of integrity for you to teach, train, sell etc. to someone else and you haven’t done what you claim to be able to do.  No delivering or learning as you go along…do you have a track record?  If you don’t, start small working with folks until you do.

So find a coach or mentor, who walks their talk, stays in alignment with their values and isn’t afraid to buck the grain from popular opinion.

Still unable to find someone? I know a fabulous “Xena Warrior Princess” coach who does exactly that with love, prayer, straight forward tough love and a God who has her back.

Want to know who?  Ask me below!

In service to you,

Larissa

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Blow Up Your Website

March 30, 2011 By 12 Comments

Yes, I said it!  Blow up your website…well not literally…but changes need to made.

Look at you sitting in your desk chair impressed with your website. The music is playing. You spent a good minute choosing the right song to get visitors in the mood. Beautiful images of weddings you did are spectacularly displayed on your computer monitor.

But there is a problem.  Getting organic traffic to the website and converting brides and grooms into paying clients.

Are You Scaring Off Prospects?

Top 4 Wedding Planner Web Design Blunders…do you know what they are?

Wedding Planners, by nature, are creative, imaginative and visually-oriented people. They can imagine the perfect space for a wedding, along with all the appropriate décor to make the event not just memorable, but magical. That being said, you can still have a website that communicates your eye for beauty without compromising the search engine optimization of your site. Here are a few of the top design mistakes wedding planning professionals make:

1. Your website uses FLASH.

In the past, it was believed FLASH videos were the way of the future. They were vivid, eye-catching and fast-moving. Unfortunately, FLASH was also loading slowly and blocking Google search engines from finding these sites. You can still feature beautiful images on your homepage, without an elaborate FLASH presentation. If you’re really attached to the look of FLASH, you may also choose to offer an HTML site in addition to your FLASH page for SEO purposes.  However, I say dump FLASH altogether.

If you stick with FLASH, search engines such as Google see this:

IMG OR IMAGE (Where are the words?)

See my point?

2. Your website has music playing.

Imagine your site visitors for a moment. Perhaps they’re sitting in quiet rooms relaxing – and suddenly the automatic music on your site jars them. What if they’re at work? Maybe they are already listening to music and the blaring selection on your site is clashing with their mood. They might look for a way to silence the music on your page. But more than likely, they’ll just close the browser window and never return.  Guess what?  Lost opportunity to connect with your visitor.

3. Your website has pop-up images.

Pop-ups are a nuisance. The more windows people have to X out or click through to get to the meat and potatoes of your site, the more opportunities you have to lose your audience. There are better ways to grab attention with a WordPress-based site that uses headlines, copywriting, links and infographics to inspire action.

4. Your website tries to be everything to everyone.

Did you know that most people type their geographic location into search engines when looking for wedding planners?  40% of local area searches done on Google are for this. For this reason, you absolutely must include the areas you service somewhere on your website.  Specifically, in the title tag, meta tags, title description and if possible in your blog posts or on your web pages.  You want to be found!

Let’s say you are a Wedding Planner in Honolulu, Hawaii and a bride from Dallas Texas wants to have a destination wedding in Hawaii.  How is she going to be able to find you if you don’t have on your website that you coordinate weddings in the Honolulu, Hawaii area?

You have blown your opportunity to connect with a bride, earn income and possibly referrals.  Hate to break it to you, but you really do want to dominate your local area for marketing and attracting brides.

Want to know more ways?  Ask me below. Loving it!  :-)

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So You Want to Host a Radio Show?

March 28, 2011 By 14 Comments

So you want to host your own radio show?  Well, let’s dive into the realm of Podcasting.

How can I captivate and engage my audience? How can I build my list of listeners? What canI do to enhance my podcast’s presence on the web? Most importantly, you may ask, how canI monetize every segment in order to fund the time it takes to increase my show’s popularity? When starting out a podcast, these are few of the things you will probably want to know before running a successful show.

The first thing to understand is every podcast platform or website operates differently. When choosing a platform, consider the features of the website’s “basic” and “pro” accounts. How much storage space and bandwidth are they offering you to use? Believe it or not, this is a big deal, because it sets the stage for the amount of shows you will be allowed to keep on your show page at a time.

This can affect your sponsorship or the monetization of your segments. The more segments you add, the more you will have to delete from your list. If I can offer some advice, I would give the newest segments a month to show any kind of results.

The segments that accumulate the most in sponsorship should be kept as they are in higher demand than the others. Remember, podcasting is about the people who listen; not so much about the analytics.

As I have said, I did my research on three podcast show websites and have come to the conclusion that most of them don’t come with their own sponsorship model. This is where you need to get creative and use the power of your audience and other resources to create your own sponsorship.

The two podcast platforms I found, www.podbean.com and www.podomatic.com, are very basic. They are designed to teach the new online podcast show host how to stream his or her own segments, but they do not come with some kind of sponsorship model. How do you get creative here?

You might want to consider creating a blog that buzzes about your podcast show and incorporate ECPM advertisements on the side column of your blog or in each of your blog posts. ECPM simply means you can get paid any amount of money per 1,000 times someone reads your blog or each blog post. One of the most popular ways people implement ECPM advertisements on their blog is Google AdSense. The best thing about using AdSense on your blog is Google picksup the “meat” of your content and tailors the advertisements to appeal to your readers.

The more readers who see your blog, the more you will make per 1,000 clicks or times your blog is read. The way to create some basic traffic to the blog that supports your podcast is to simply mention your blog web address on your podcast at some point. You can even go the extra mile and create a small audio advertisement to play in the middle, beginning, or end of each segment.

Doing this will engage your audience even more. Promoting a monetized blog that is relevant to the content you create on your podcast is seen as “acceptable” to listeners, because the content is relevant. At this point, you will be linking up like content with like content. This generates traffic which captivates your audience and drives more attention to your content. Overall, keep it relevant, respect your listeners, and know that giving out your blog website address can only give them an abundance of free information. Who doesn’t want that?

Finally, the last podcast website I will be discussing is www.blogtalkradio.com. It gained most of its popularity in 2008 by incorporating a sponsorship model for “basic” and “pro” users. The sponsorship model used is based on Amazon affiliate accounts. Before taking advantage of this model, make sure to sign up for an Amazon affiliate account. Once you have created your new affiliate account, you will be able to add relevant products from Amazon to each podcast segment you stream.

For example: You decide to stream a podcast of 30 minutes about the newest DVD movies you picked up. Go into your dashboard and schedule your segment. At the bottom of the page that asks you for the title, description, and tags, you will have the option to search for the “ASIN” for the Amazon product(s) you wish to advertise on your show page.

The “ASIN” is the bar code of the product you’re searching for. If you don’t know it, type in the title of the DVD you want to market on your show page. The results should come up and may also give you the DVD in different languages. A DVD in any other language you can find will engage a more global market and this will add more people to your list of listeners. Again, you must respect your audience. It shows character and it will help your podcast show to become more successful.

Let me know your thoughts on the date of your first podcast show, I would love to stay connected!

 

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Social Media Tips For Wedding Planners

March 24, 2011 By 11 Comments

There can be little doubt that planning a wedding is an exciting and exhilarating process.But planning the event of a lifetime can also be stressful and fraught with problems. If you are a wedding planner, then you might find that you need to use social media to build your business and draw brides to your business.

Social Media Tip #1 – Create a Facebook Page

A Facebook page is different from a Facebook profile. Facebook pages are intended as a medium for businesses to advertise their services and products and gain a following.  Using Facebook pages, you can advertise your wedding planning business and updateyour current and potential clients about events you will be attending, the latest trends in the wedding planning business. Facebook pages are an excellent method for garnering new clients and utilizing social media as a way to connect with your existing clients.

Social Media Tip #2 – Create Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are the ads that you see on the side of Facebook profiles. You can advertise almost any aspect of your business, including products and services that you offer to clients. Facebook ads are easy to create and you can drive visitors to your website or wedding blog if you include a web link and a few words about you and your services.

Social Media Tip #3 – Tweet Daily

Twitter has quickly gained momentum for building an online presence and driving new clients and customers to businesses that have mastered Twitter. You can use your blog to develop a following by adding a “Tweet” button to yourwebsite. You can also follow wedding industry leaders and find yourself getting followers simply by reciprocal follows from others.

Social Media Tip #4 – Join Linked-In

Linked-In is a professional networking site on which you can develop a presence that newly engaged brides may use to find you and your services. You might be surprised at how many professional brides will seek out wedding planners who have a presence and profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is similar to Facebook and you can update your status, announce events and introduce products and services through this site.

Social Media Tip #5 – Use a Service Like HootSuite

HootSuite is a great tool for your social media activities. Not only can you schedule your tweets and manage multiple Twitter accounts, but you can monitor the effectiveness of your Twitter activities. HootSuite also allows you to monitor other social media outlets,such as Facebook and LinkedIn and gives you extensive reports on your social media accounts. Another great feature from HootSuite is that you can find out when you or yourbusiness is mentioned by anyone else on  social media sites. This means that you can know when your wedding planning services are recommended by someone else or you get an especially great review.

Social media for wedding planners can be a very time consuming activity. Using social media to build your business takes some time to master and many wedding planners are missing out by not using this effective tool to communicate with their bridal clients and customers.

 

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What Type of Bride Do You Prefer to Work With

March 22, 2011 By 9 Comments

Are you a wedding planner, bridal shop owner, makeup artist, photographer, videographer, DJ, or florist?

If you are a wedding professional, you have probably seen your fair share of different bride personalities.

Working in the wedding world can be exciting, fun, stressful, and sometimes even upsetting.

It can be a better experience if you are working with a bride that you truly enjoy!  What type of bride you do prefer working with?  Take a look at the following classifications of brides and make your pick!

Bridezilla

A bridezilla is probably one of those most difficult types of brides to work with.  This bride will want everything to go her way, no matter what.  It can be stressful dealing with a bridezilla because you may always feel as if nothing is good enough.  It’s important to remember that you just have to try to please her as best you can so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.  It is important to remain calm and stay professional throughout the entire process.  Try to think ahead, so that you can anticipate any problems that may arise and you will know how to fix a problem so that the bride is happy.

The Dream Bride

The dream bride is exactly the kind of bride that every wedding professional wants to work with.  She is appreciative, easy to communicate with and understanding.  While she may have some special requests, and has her own idea of how the wedding will run, she does not make your life difficult!  This is usually the best type of bride to work for.  Make sure to impress this type of bride, as she probably has other friends who are just as polite and kind.  You may be able to get a great referral!

You’ve probably seen both of these types of brides throughout your professional career.  It is always important to remember to provide excellent customer service no matter how difficult a bride may be.  With the help of a wedding pro assistant, you can make sure that each bride is happy with the services that you offer.  An assistant can help to check in with brides throughout the process.  Always try to please brides by going above and beyond in everything that you do.

If you are want to continue to bring in more business, it is important to analyze your bridal marketing plan. You will want to appeal to a certain type of bride.  Consider looking at the way that you explain your services when doing your wedding business marketing.  You can improve your wedding marketing by trying different advertising methods.

It may be a good idea to reach brides in new ways.  Consider using the internet, trade shows, and mobile media.  With time, effort, and planning you can be sure to have a successful marketing plan that will allow you to bring in more bridal business!

Don’t know, ask me how!

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