Charming!

As odd as this sounds, one of my favorite parts of wedding planning was selecting the gift for my maid-of-honor... my younger sister and best friend- Lindsey. It was important to me that I find something very meaningful and beautiful for this person that would stand by my side as I said "I do". I decided on presenting her with a charm bracelet. I spent HOURS browsing through charms that related to our lives together.

Here are just a few examples of the simple symbols that had incredible meaning for these two sisters:

Witch charm - For the time we went to Salem, Massachussetts with our father.


Tooth charm- For when I lost my first baby tooth due to an ill-fated bed jumping session with Lindsey

Teddy bear charm- For my favorite teddy bear that Lindsey wrote on with permanent marker because she was jealous I got a paper fan at a friend's birthday party

Check out some of these great websites for beautiful charm bracelets! Any of your bridal party members would be honored to receive such a thoughtful gift.

C.H.A.R.M

Charm N Jewelry

Charm Country

Ever Charming

photo sources:
Bracelet~ First Treasures
Witch charm~ Just Nan
Tooth charm~ Charm Factory
Teddy bear charm~ Marty Magic

Vendors Unveiled: Raw Photo Design

In this week’s edition of Vendor’s Unveiled, we learn more about Eric Langlois of Raw Photo Design. I first met Eric a couple years ago through his wife Amber. Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to work with him on a few different photo shoots and he’s become a good friend of Bliss. We are huge fans of Eric’s work. He has a very unique artistic style and has a talent for making all of his subjects look like professional models. Honestly. Take a look at his blog and see for yourself. Eric is also lots of fun to work with. You can tell that he loves his job and it comes through in the way he puts everyone at ease when they get in front of his camera.

Name: Eric Langlois

Website: www.rawphotodesign.com

Blog: Same

How long have you been in business?
4 years

Where are you located and what geographical area(s) do you service?
Based in Danbury, CT and service clients worldwide.

What drew you to photography as a profession?
I really loved the idea of having the ability to make people feel really good about themselves and creating a piece of art that would signify them as a couple.

What do you feel sets you apart as a photographer?
I'm constantly trying to evolve my style and avoid the usual wedding photography cliches that are a part of so many photographers' work. My team brings something fresh and new to each and every single wedding we cover. Whether it's a different lighting technique, pose, or camera angle, we're always striving to create a new and different piece of art for each one of our clients. Another aspect that I think really sets me apart is the amount of time and effort I spend really getting to know each and every one of my couples. I include an engagement session in each wedding package which gives my clients and me a day to hang out and get to know each other before their actual wedding.

What do you love most about your job?
Creating artwork that blows my clients away and makes them feel awesome about themselves. I love the moment during a session or wedding in which my client really opens up, lets their guard down, and allows me to capture the essence of them as a person. Creating an environment and atmosphere in which a person can fully open up and be completely comfortable in front of the camera is about 95% of my job and the part I love the most.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
Entertaining

Vendors Unveiled: Flowers by Danielle

We have had the pleasure to work with Flowers by Danielle for a few of the events we have coordinated. Danielle's work is always impeccable, unique and breathtaking. Her staff is friendly and always excited to collaborate with the clients and other vendors. It is obvious that floral design is their passion and it comes out in their attitude and their art!

Name: Danielle Farrer

Website: http://www.flowersbydanielle.com/

Where are you located, and what geographical area(s) do you service?

I am located in Monroe, CT. We travel the entire state of CT and Westchester County NY.

How long have you been in business?

We have been in business for 9 years.

What drew you to floral design as a profession?

I grew up working in a retail florist and loved doing the wedding aspect of the business. Upon graduation from college I tried the corporate world for one year and realized my passion was with flowers. It all began doing friends and families weddings and through word of mouth, after pleasing thousands of brides over the years, my love of flowers is still flourishing. When you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work at all!

What do you feel sets you apart as a florist?

We are not a retail florist. We are wedding and event specialists. We take great pride in providing our brides and clients with the utmost freshness and quality flowers in the market, as we order per event. We don't use a lot of fillers and greens to enhance our work. The day of your wedding is the only event on our calendar and our focus is on you, as we're not interrupted with funeral and hospital deliveries and walk-ins.

What do you love most about your job?

Every wedding is unique and putting smiles on peoples faces! We treat every wedding as if it were our own.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

Passionate

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Today is Elizabeth's special day. Care to leave her a few birthday wishes in the Comments?

Modish BIZtips Monthly Goal Meetup: April 2009

The author of one of the blogs we visit regularly, Jena at Modish BIZtips, is challenging all of her readers to come up with a list of at least five business-related goals we want to accomplish during the month of April and posting them on our own blogs. Her hope is that by everyone coming together and publicizing their goals, we’ll all hold ourselves more accountable for completing them. At the end of each month, we’ll check in with one another to gauge our progress and develop a new set of goals for the following month.

We thought this was a fantastic idea, so we’ve posted our list of goals below. You can read Jena’s original post here for more information and to see who else is participating.

1. Rewrite individual bios for website. If you visit our website regularly, you’ll know that we had bios up when we launched the new site back in November. After some time had passed, however, we decided that they were too “corporate,” for lack of a better word. We want to inject some more personality into them, so it’s back to the drawing board for some editing.

2. Finalize new marketing materials. We recently revamped our package structure and service offerings and we’re excited about the changes, but now we need to update our client marketing materials to follow suit.

3. Have headshots taken of our new Bliss team members. Two lovely ladies have recently joined the Bliss team and we can’t wait to introduce them on the blog, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, we’ve been holding off until we have some shiny new headshots of them to accompany the announcement.

4. Invite five new vendors to participate in Vendors Unveiled. One of the best parts of being involved with our clients’ weddings is the opportunity to collaborate with other wedding professionals. A few weeks ago, we introduced our new Vendors Unveiled interview series on the blog and it’s been a great way to get to know the many wonderfully talented vendors out there. We hope to increase participation over the coming weeks.

5. Convert blog to WordPress. We’ve wanted to convert our blog to WordPress for some time now, but with so many other items on the to-do list, we just haven’t gotten around to actually doing it. Hopefully this Monthly Goal Meetup will provide us with the necessary motivation.

Be sure to check back at the end of April to see how we’re doing!

[Image credit: "Goals" by Flickr user Jill Greenseth]

With This Ring

I love the idea of replacing the traditional ring pillow with a ring dish or bowl. Pick something that reflects your personalities or have it customized with your names.

Every night, right before you go to bed- you can both place your wedding bands together in the same dish they sat in before you exchanged them the day you were wed! And every morning when you awake, you will remember the promise you made to each other and how that ring you slip on your finger is a symbol of that promise.

[ring dish by etsy seller Paloma's Nest]

Comment for a Cause: 1st Quarter Recap

Back in January, we introduced our Comment for a Cause initiative: for every comment posted to our blog, we would donate $1.00 to a charitable organization. We're pleased to announce that we will be donating $20.00 (hey, every little bit helps, right?) to The Humane Society thanks to the efforts of our loyal blog readers.

With the first three months of the year behind us (where did the time go??), it's time to select a new charitable organization for the 2nd quarter, and that charity will be the Alzheimer's Association.

If you've been following our blog, but have been too shy to post a comment, we encourage you to come out of hiding. You don't have to reveal any identifying information about yourself in order to post, although we do prefer that you include at least your first name (when you post, you'll be asked to enter an email address, but this information is not shared with us when the comment comes through).

Thank you to everyone who has commented and please keep 'em coming!