Tuesday, August 24, 2010

And the winner is.....

Gini at the Big Fat Gini Blog !!!!  So cruise on over and check out her awesome site and sense of humor.  She will have you in stitches, I promise.

Congratulations to our winner!!  In her entry she stated that 11 years later, her dishes are still her favorite wedding gift. 

That goes to show, pick neutral styles that age well with time so that you truly get time and memories out of them.

Gini please let me know what monogram you would like and we will get your Tervis tumbler to you, ASAP!
A big thank you to everyone that entered, and stay tuned for our next post coming sometime this week.

Happy Planning!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Who is invited?!?

Such a difficult question when you are planning a large event. 

Especially a wedding. 

Usually you are combining two families with their own ideas about who should get to be there.  So that you know other people have the same struggles as you, here is a little story about how I handled it 6 years ago.

My family is tiny, I mean really tiny.  I am the only child in the family, no cousins, no siblings, just me.  Grand total at the time of my wedding:  12 including me.  My husband (fiance at the time) is quite the opposite, his family is HUGE.  So when we were planning the wedding and the first list of people I got from my future mother in-law had 378 people on it, to say I was overwhelmed is an understatement.  Not to mention, my family was, according to tradition, footing the bill. 

I fumbled around with the list and finally asked my fiance to take a look.  We sat down and my first question was this, "Do you know these people????"  He did.   When willing it to disappear didn't work, I put it in the back of my planning binder, and we shelved the conversation.

Once we had picked our location for both the wedding and the reception, I now had a valid excuse for making the list WAY smaller.  The historic church we chose only sat 175 people.  Whew.

For us, the location won out over the quantity of people attending.  I mean seriously, how romantic is this church:

Anyway, I digress :)  Fiance and I sat down and looked at the 175 seats that were available and decided to break up the invites this way, 75 for his family, 50 for my family, and 50 of our friends.  This included our bridal party and us. 

Now came the part I was dreading.  How do I tell my future MIL that I needed her list to be cut from 378 to 75 people?!?  Ummmmm....  I decided to do it by giving her a suggestion on how to cut it down.  Since I am a spreadsheet and organization junkie, I emailed her a pre-made spreadsheet with a few examples plugged in, then asked her to apply this method to the list she originally sent me.

Example:
Now people were placed into categories so that my fiance and I could see how important their attendance was to his parents.  The RELATION tab also really helped me learn how people were related before the awkward first meeting at the wedding.  Applying this method got us down to 85 people on his side.  A bit more than I was hoping, but WAY better than I expected.  Luckily his mom found the categories a really easy to use method (and even used it years later for my sister in-laws wedding).

After the invites were stamped and mailed we ended up inviting 190.  Due to bad weather around 150 people showed the day of the wedding.  However, don't forget, EVERYONE you invite might just show up.  It happened to my sister in law...  355 invited and 353 showed.  Madness I tell you!

From my personal experience with invite crisis, here are some tips:
  • Decide which is more important: your location or the number of people you invite
  • Budget, Budget, Budget!!!  Don't break your budget to fit in 3 extra people you met in the bookstore.
  • Make your fiance get involved in the invite process.  It is their wedding as well, and you hate to cut someone that could mean a lot to your significant other.
  • Invite a few extras, but only if you can fit them and pay for them.  They might just surprise you and show up!
  • Make a spreadsheet (or whatever your preferred method is) and keep it organized.  Know who you are inviting!!
  • Don't be afraid to say no, or cut it down.  It is your wedding, the list can be as long or short as you want.
  • If all else fails, ask for help!!  Whether it be from a 3rd party source (ahem like an amazing wedding planning team) or a friend.
Don't forget about our awesome giveaway, and until next time...

Happy Planning!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

It's a Giveaway!

Sorry for the absent blogging!  We have been busy getting all the finishing touches on making White Taffeta a well oiled machine : p

We have an awesome wedding coming up in Austin this October at the beautiful Lakeway Resort.  Stay tuned for more details on that as well!

Now for the fun...  To get people going, we are offering our first giveaway!  That's right people, FREE STUFF!  We are going to shoot for doing at least one giveaway a month, maybe more.  Stay tuned for that, also if you want to partner with White Taffeta and have something we can offer our readers send us a message at heather@whitetaffetaevents.com

The first giveaway is......

A Monogrammed 16 oz Tervis Tumbler!  You get to choose the letter of course :)


If you don't know what a Tervis Tumbler is, where have you been

It is a GREAT registry item and they carry them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (and probably other mass retailers).  They are sweat proof insulated cups that come in various sizes.  I personally use Tervis everyday for coffee, iced tea, mixed drinks, you name it!  I couldn't live without them.  If you want to learn more about Tervis (and their AWESOME lifetime guarantee, different sizes, designs, etc), check out http://www.tervis.com/ and make sure you read their history!  This company is still Family Owned!!!!!  Gotta love it!

Now for the rules:

To enter the contest simply leave us a comment stating what your favorite wedding gift was (or will be).

BONUS!  For a second chance to win, pop on over to Facebook and become a fan of White Taffeta Events, then leave us a comment stating that you did so.

BONUS, BONUS!!  For a third chance to win, become a follower here on our blog, and again leave us a comment stating that you are now a follower!

The contest will close on Monday August 23, 2010 at 11:59pm CST and we will announce the winner the next day.

Make sure you put in three separate comments, and GOOD LUCK!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Black Crow Studios

We are super excited that a really hip design genius has chosen White Taffeta as her go to for her 2011 wedding.  Tracy is the owner of Black Crow Studiosin Los Angeles, CA.  Tracy is an amazing designer with great ideas on how you can get inspired as well.  Check out her web page, and her blog to see what I am talking about.  She has bold style and a totally different view on weddings than most brides. 


We spent a few days in Austin helping her scope out which location really fit into her style.  As of now, we have it down to 2 different locations, Laguna Gloria at the Austin Museum of Art, or Lakeway Resort.  Both locations would have a 3 day extravaganza and we can't wait to see which one she and her fiance pick.  Until they make the choice, here are some pictures to see what it has narrowed down to!
First off we have Lakeway Resort:

Now we have Laguna Gloria:

Tough choice, right????
Happy Planning!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Photos of a lifetime

When the day is over and the vows have been said, what is left to remember all the details of your day?  Your photos.

Here at White Taffeta we can not stress the importance of an amazing photographer that you are not only comfortable with, but one that does truly exceptional work. 

We have a great relationship with a Houston based photographer, Roy Image Photography.  They are a husband and wife team that capture your event with breathtaking results.  Roy has an eye for not only great shots that you expect, but also photos you would have never even thought about.  He is great to work with, and is not one of the photographers that are constantly in your way, or distract from the day itself.

We do not require you work with Roy if you choose us to assist you, however we do have a personal relationship with him so that we can help you to communicate your ideas to him.

Now, here are some bridal shots to let Roy's work speak for itself.




Happy Planning!

Friday, April 30, 2010

Where do we go from here?

Now join hands, and with your hands your hearts.

- William Shakespeare
 
He asked, you said yes, now where do we go from here? 
 
At White Taffeta it is our job to help you every step of the way.  There are many, many things that go into a wedding and that is why having a consultant (or team) on your side with experience is important.  However, in those first few exciting days, here are some things to get you jump started:
 
Choose your Wedding Date (or at least month/season).


Factors to consider:
 Time of year, including holidays, vacations & school
 Reception location and availability
 Church/Synagogue availability & proximity to reception
 Time needed to plan the wedding
 Start a Wedding File. Keep your wedding documents, ideas, fabric samples and contracts all in one place!

Set your Style.

It’s a day you have planned for a long time. Remember, it’s your day and there are no wrong answers.

Factors to consider:

 What is your lifestyle? Are you an outdoorsy person?
 Do you prefer formal, semiformal or casual? Long dresses indoors or no shoes on the beach?

Announce your Engagement.

It is completely optional but you may wish to consider putting an announcement of your engagement in your local paper. It’s a great keepsake.

Decide on a Wedding Budget.

Factors to consider:

 Do not spend beyond your means. Remember that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to be your dream day.
 Determine your spending limit ahead of time.
 Include any funds, if any, your family is providing in this budget.

Talk to your Wedding Consultant.

It is our goal to ease the stresses of event planning. Weddings are particularly complex because they are more intensely emotional than most events. Let us help you get started!

Happy Planning!

Monday, April 26, 2010

The start of a journey...

Well world, we have arrived.

After planning multiple events we have decided to jump in with all 6 feet and get started.

Our services:
Weddings
Birthdays
Reunions
Corporate Events
Holiday Parties
And many more

Our guarantee:
That whether you need a simple consultation, a push in the right direction, or want to hand over the reigns completely, we will be there for you. You will receive service with a personalized touch so that each aspect of your event is about you, for you, and feels like 100% yours. After all, it is YOUR EVENT.

We are still getting everything put together online, so please if you have questions about what is included in packages, call us, or email us and we will be happy to set up a meeting.

We are accepting new clients at this time and can't wait to help you plan your dream event.

Happy Planning!

Chauntelle, Allison, and Heather
Event Specialists