There are two basic types: pure numbers and private selection. The pure numbers one is the most prevalent. You know what I’m talking about; some local paper or website runs a marketing campaign to get everyone to vote for their favorite wedding vendors. Best Cake in Bugtussle, Best Photographer, Best Florist and so on. You know as well as I do these are nothing more than a giant ballot box stuffing fest devised to drive traffic to the sponsor’s website. Everyone that is nominated sends out email to their entire network saying “Vote for ME!!!” You’ve done it, so have I. I voted everyday for a friend’s bridal salon to be Best of Boston. Have I shopped there? I’ve never even been to Boston! Of course now I can’t seem to get off the lead list for whatever Boston paper it was that ran the thing.

My point is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the vendors that win, well not usually*. It has to do with how deep their network is.

Yesterday I say a new one. This one was all full of itself and set up to be different. Nomination were open, just fill out the form. Then the website owner and one other person would review the nominees and pick the top three in each category. Hahaha, ya right.

I have been in this industry in this market for over 20 years. I have been an active member of the largest regional bridal networking organization for almost that long. I work on the B2B end now and hear all the dirt from everyone. Having said that you would have to figure that I have a pretty decent handle on what’s what and who’s who around here.

As my friend, a wedding planner and I looked over the winners yesterday, we started seeing a distinct trend. All the winners were second to third tier players and interestingly enough, either advertisers on the site or had been the vendors of the bride chosen to do the review. Not one of the people places or things that always rise to the top was chosen. Not one.

What makes me sad is that there are brides that look to these lists for answers. It isn’t fair to mislead the public like this just to drive traffic to your site and your friends. Take these things with a big grain of salt and recognize them for what they are: marketing tools for the sponsor.

*I said usually because there is one that really does it right and must be honest to a fault. After all, they picked me for best dessert in Nashville 13 years in a row! LOL

One of the most powerful ways to change the look of a room or create ambience for your wedding is with the effective use of lighting.
You can use lighting to wash the walls with color or project a pattern. You can use up light to define a space or use pin spots to highlight your centerpieces and cake. Then of course the use of a monogrammed gobo on the dance floor is always beautiful.

Soft Pink Lit Walls

Pin Spots Light up A Garden Wedding

Patterns Wash the Walls. Pin Spot on Cake

You can expect custom lighting to cost in the neighborhood of 5 to 10% of your budget. That may seem like a lot but there aren’t many other things that will give the power to transform a space the way great lighting can.
Click through the images to see the sources.

Zach & Jody Gray

Jody and Zach Gray not only have amazing talent behind the lens but are just a lot of fun to be around. If you want to help insure that you have fun and laugh through your wedding day take these tips from Jody to heart.

How to Choose a Photographer(s)

by Jody Gray

Have you ever been a part of a wedding and you’ve seen this guy as the photographer?

What Not to Hire!

First few thoughts that come to mind:
Scary
Mean
No Fun
These photos are going to stink
This is going to be the worst and longest day of my life

Quite a few years back, I (Jody) remember being in a wedding where everyone was on edge and tense all because of one person who was making the day quite unbearable… I’m sure you can guess the role the person had at this wedding – The Photographer!

Sometimes a bride underestimates the importance of having her wedding photographer be one who she “clicks” with (pun fully intended). A wedding is the one of the most special and personal days of your life, and the last person a bride wants capturing her day is Mr. Crabby-Photographer-I-Yell-At-Everyone-All-Day.

Let us, as photographers give you one word of advice – Make sure you click with your photographers!!

Yes, it is VERY important that you like their shooting style, and that they can actually shoot a wedding, but please do not forget about liking them as a person! Your photographer (or photographers in our case )will be with you at the most intimate and emotional times of your wedding day, and the last thing a bride wants to feel is uncomfortable because her creepy photographer is well, creepy, and mean as well.

Let your wedding be fun and a joy, and by choosing a photographer who you click with, you’ll feel as if you have your friends right along with you capturing your day, and the images will be all the much better!
Questions to Ask Yourself to Find the Photographer(s) to ‘Click’ With

1. Do they have a creep factor?
2. Is this someone I can see myself hanging out with and sharing my wedding day with?
3. Have they shown an interest in me as a person and not just asked questions about our budget?

Tip:
Ask for a few bride/coordinator references to get the real down-low of how the photographer was their wedding day

*Please keep in mind that we are not saying you have to find a photographer who has to be Best Friend Potential… simply someone you feel comfortable with!

Brides are really fortunate these days to have a many wedding photographers available for them to choose from. As a bride, don’t be afraid to have high expectations and to really go after what you are wanting. Let the picking process begin!

Love Your Photographer

Be sure to check out Zach and Jody’s website and for more tips on your wedding read thier blog. Here at the Dish we just love Jody’s sense of humor so hopefully she will keep guest blogging.

I had always known that Kellie was one of the greenest caterers around. Still, I was tickled green to see that she is posting about it.

The Main Event Blog

To all my about to be bride readers; take a look at some of the wonderful ways that your vendors can incorporate a green attitude into what they do for your wedding. To my readers in the industry; Kellie is a shining example of how all the little choices you make everyday, really do make a difference.

Check out Kellie’s blog for The Main Event, while you are there, check out her gorgeous cakes.

Keep up the great work Kellie.

Having your wedding in a tent in your parent’s backyard has long been a tradition in Great Britain; but in the states tents are thought of as a Plan B for bad weather. Bah humbug. I think tented weddings are some of the most beautiful you will ever see.

Tented Wedding Brunch

Using a tent you create the environment from the ground up. You aren’t stuck with ugly carpet in the wrong color or walls so ugly you want to hide them. Take a look at some of the tented weddings I found on Carnival Marquees Hire website. Yes, they are in the UK but don’t let that stop you. There are plenty of tent suppliers in the US. Check with your local rental firms or better yet your event planner/designer. The really top notch companies ship all over the country.

Tented Wedding with Dramatic Lighting

It won’t necessarily be less expensive than hiring a hotel or country club since you do have to bring in literally everything from the floor to the ceiling. It may, however make for a great excuse to limit your guest list which does help the budget. “Oh we just could not imagine having our wedding anywhere but in the yard I grew up in. Sadly that does restrict the number of guests the location will hold.” HeeHee. Now you don’t have to invite that obnoxious receptionist at work or you Aunt’s extended family. Tres cool

Just look at how gorgeous your site will look as your guests arrive.

Wedding Reception Tent Lights Up The Night

I just read an interesting press release on the annual survey, “What’s On Brides Minds’” conducted by Infosurv, Inc. for David’s Bridal. According to the survey results, 75% of brides-to-be now have to adjust their budget because of the current economic climate. One of the ways there are making that adjustment is by reducing the guest list. According to the same survey 45% are going this route.

Intimate Backyard Wedding

For a lot of reasons, having a smaller more intimate wedding is a good thing. Rather than your wedding becoming a major production on the scale of a stage show, it becomes a small celebration with those that are closest to you. It lowers the nerve quotient and ups the meaning factor in one fell swoop.

A recent post on IntimateWeddings.com lists 10 reasons to have a smaller more intimate wedding. Every reason is a good one, but my favorite is #7

You get to spend time with your guests. How many weddings have made you feel like a stranger fulfilling a social obligation? Small weddings aren’t like that. When the guest list is small, the bride and groom can spend time with each of their guests, making them feel welcome.

Like I have been saying for a while, the weddings you see on TV aren’t the Real American Wedding, they are the anomaly. It is time that the wedding media got back to reality and started showing brides that they can have a wonderful, touching, meaning full wedding with out taking out a second mortgage.

Image courtesy of Cottages and Castles Vacation Rentals

Well a funny thing happened. I was helping my favorite florist set up her booth and lost my balance. A rush trip to the ER, 3 hours of surgery and 4 days in hospital I missed the show, Dang. It looked like it was going to be a good one too. That silly EMT wouldn’t stop for me to take pictures as he wheeled me out. Whatever was he thinking? Maybe that cantaloupe masquerading as my knee had something to do with it.

Yes it hurt!

Any way, it would be great if you could sign my cast. OK, so I don’t have an actual cast, just an immobilizer but if you leave me a comment that works too. Send a little love to your wedding diva to help her heal.

I promise to post pictures of the show highlights as soon as I get them.

Sapphire Engagement Ring

DON’T TELL ANYONE! Ok well that may be a bit drastic since I know you will want to scream it from the rooftops but hear me out first.

From the moment you announce your engagement every single female that has ever loved you will want to plan your wedding. You will get more ‘helpful’ advice than at any time in your life with the exception of your first pregnancy. Inside every aunt, sister, cousin, BFF and most strangers lurks a frustrated event designer. Don’t even get me started on the Moms! Most likely your Mom has been planning your wedding in her head since the very day she found out she was carrying a girl in her womb. Yikes! Whose wedding is it anyway?

Well my dear, it is your wedding. This day belongs to you and the boy; grab hold and hang on to it. That is why I say don’t tell anyone; at least until you two have talked it over and gotten a vision of the wedding YOU TWO want.

I don’t mean plan the darn thing down to the baskets in the bathrooms. I mean get a broad generalization of what each of you has pictured for this day and reconcile those two images into a untied front with which to face the coming onslaught. That way when Mom utters the words Cathedral and Country Club you can honestly say “(the boy) and I have already decided on a garden wedding.” If you have a vision in mind you can deflect a lot of trouble in the future by staking claim to your wedding from the very beginning.

Just a little bit of wisdom from some one that has been there done that.