Event Designers: Weddings by Tara Guerard

How beautiful is the new book from Tara Guerard so aptly titled, "Weddings".   Our Southern friend, Tara and company(Kate and Cash) were recently in our neck of the woods.  They brought their signature classic style,  laughter and a bit of Southern charm to San Francisco.  If you were one of the many attendees at Wedding360, we heard that you received your own copy.  Now, that's cool.  We love and admire Tara's no nonsense approach to designing elegant weddings.  In the book, you will find many wonderful recipes.  We can't wait to try the Ginger Peach Almond Wedding Pie(just makes our mouth watering!).

To order your book, you can visit amazon.com.

Decor: Banner of Love

We were looking for ideas for a wedding banner when we came across these cute things on Etsy.  What we found were diverse banners in so many styles, shapes, and attitudes.  For certain, banners have been a hit.  We just love how many options there are.

For more banners, go to etsy.com

Industry News: To a Brighter Light for All

Wedding photographers, planners, and vendors appreciate the value of word-of-mouth business referrals. In fact, among nearly 700 wedding photographers surveyed throughout the United Sates, Canada, Europe, and Australia, more than 90% said referrals are more effective than print and online advertising. Yet, networking to secure referrals has long been an effort-intensive task.


Until now.

Two Bright Lights, Inc. is the first-of-its-kind online image sharing and networking service. Two Bright Lights capitalizes on the strengths of social networking principles and takes them to the next level to transform vendor acquaintances into value-centric relationships, relationships into leads, and leads into profits.
 
We can go on and on but you'll just have to go to the website to learn more about it.
 

About Two Bright Lights

Founded in 2009, Two Bright Lights (TBL) is a subscription-based pioneering online B2B wedding marketing service dedicated to improving marketing efficiency and results for photographers, planners, and vendors. Optimizing the power of social media and networking, Two Bright Lights maximizes networking and referral capabilities through features including image sharing, portfolio development, and inspiration board creation. Additionally, by streamlining the editorial process for Real Wedding features in print and online publications, Two Bright Lights boosts business visibility in a highly-competitive industry. Headquartered in Chicago, Two Bright Lights reaches worldwide through its online presence at www.twobrightlights.com .

Industry News: Merging of Wedding Powers

Now - how about that?  Does this make you think that more partnerships and mergers are in the future? Chime in.

Industry News: Wedding 360's Inaugural Academy Coming...

Less than 1 week away, but there is still time to register!

Investment to attend is $975 per person. Registration includes all meals, classes, and social events from Sunday, March 14, 2010 through Tuesday, March 16, 2010.  To register, please go to www.wedding360llc.com.

Here is our final agenda for The Academy! We are so thrilled and excited to have top experts in their respective fields be present to teach what they are best at. They will be sharing a lot of how-to's and going quite in-depth into the nitty gritties of their specific topics. Attendees will definitely take away a wealth of knowledge and inspiration!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

3:00pm-7:00pm: Registration in Sculpture I., St. Regis San Francisco

7:00pm-9:30pm: ‘Emerald Underworld’ Welcome Cocktail Party, designed by Gloria Wong Design, in the terrace tent at The St. Regis (Click here for sneak preview!)

Monday, March 15, 2010 (Breakfast, lunch, and classes will be held at Four Seasons SF)


6:00am-10:00pm: Blogging/Internet Lounge open all day for TAPD attendees at The St. Regis

8:00am-9:00am: Continental Breakfast provided by Wedding 360

9:00am-10:30am: Speaker Rebecca Grinnals of Engaging Concepts will present the state of the wedding industry as it relates to Planners and Designers

10:45am-12:15pm: Speaker Sean Low of The Business of Being Creative will teach practical advice to make your wedding planning or event design business profitable, and whether or not it is wise to market yourself as both a planner and a designer

12:15pm-1:15pm: Lunch provided by Wedding 360 | Book Signing with Tara Guerard, Alison Hotchkiss, Leila Khalil.| Portrait opps with Orange Photography

1:30pm-2:30pm: Speaker David Beahm of David Beahm Designs will teach a 'Lifestyle Weddings Design Techniques Master Class--Designing for visual volume and perceived value in the new economy.'

2:45pm-3:45pm: Speaker Todd Fiscus of Todd Events will teach about his unique approach to design, and the 'behind the scenes' of expanding and growing your design business effectively

4:00pm-4:45pm: ‘Forward Thinking’ presentation with Abby and Tait Larson of Style Me Pretty to
discuss their vision for the new decade. What will come after blogging, and DIY?

4:45pm-5:15pm: ‘Forward Thinking’ presentation with Siri and Rosalind of Two Bright Lights. They will have a live demonstration of their new social networking tool that will revolutionize the way we do our marketing in the wedding industry

5:15pm-7:00pm: Break

4:00pm-11:00pm: Design Showcase open for viewing on 4th level of St. Regis Hotel. See 4 very different and distinctive design vignettes by our designers Nancy Liu Chin Designs, Asiel Design, Grant & Co., and Soiree by Tara Guerard

7:00pm-7:30pm: Mixologist to present 'What's new in Cocktailing'. Sample the newest, trendiest cocktails to recommend to your clients!

7:30pm-10:30pm: "Museum of Petals" dinner inside the Gallery Ballroom at The St. Regi in honor of Grace Ormonde (Click here for a sneak preview of the extraordinary design by Gloria Wong of Gloria Wong Design)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 (Breakfast, lunch, and classes to be held at The St. Regis)


6:00am-8:00pm: Blogging/Internet Lounge open all day for TAPD attendees

8:30am-9:30am: Continental Breakfast provided by Wedding 360

9:30am-11:00am: Speaker Tara Guerard of Soiree by Tara Guerard will teach all about spatial planning and techniques to overcome spatial challenges, including tent design.

11:15am-12:30pm: Grace Ormonde, Catherine Hall, Gene Higa and Youngsong Martin of Wildflower Linens will present as a panel, the relationship between a designer/planner, a photographer, and an editor. They will provide tips on how to maximize these relationships and how to work best together on events and photoshoots

12:30pm-1:30pm: Lunch provided by Wedding 360 | Portrait opps with Orange Photography


1:45pm-3:00pm: Design Panel will include Tara Guerard, Nancy Liu Chin, Linnae Asiel, Grant Rector who will share their processes from inspiration to conceptualization to production for their individual design showcases. Moderated by Linda Hylen, this amazing panel of speakers will also share their trend forecasts and design perspectives with us

3:15pm-4:00pm: Speaker Ethan Mantle of Componere Fine Catering and sommelier Yohanna Burmeister of Henry Wine Group will reveal the latest trends in food and wine pairing, and also share tips on how food presentation can complement event design. A tasting and wine flight will be included in this portion!

4:00pm-4:30pm: Wrap-up by Jean Marks and Jubilee Lau, Founders of Wedding 360, LLC.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

1 on 1 consulting opportunities with Sean Low--VERY limited space, please inquire at jubilee@wedding360llc.com (additional fee of $500 for each 1 hour time slot)

Participation in the inaugural Floral Summit, led by Sean Low, Nancy Liu Chin and Amy Marella
(additional fee of $100 per person)

Industry News:

Love is in the air … and so is the flutter of show-stopping bridal gowns, bridesmaids’ dresses, wedding gifts and so much more. As part of Gilt’s Wedding Weekend, in collaboration with Martha Stewart Weddings, from March 12-14, Gilt will be bringing you everything you need, want and can’t imagine walking down the aisle without — from beribboned silk heels to the perfect topaz necklace. (Something blue? Done.) They’ll also have sharp suits for the groom, get-pretty prep packages for the bridal party, dreamily decadent lingerie, and stuff-of-dreams honeymoon packages courtesy of Jetsetter. And if your head’s spinning with the task at hand, chin up — Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings, has culled her personal picks to help aide in the planning process. This is your weekend to sit back, sign in to Gilt, and create a wonderful wedding at jaw-dropping prices.

Industry News: Bailey and Blum

How exciting is Bailey & Blum?

Congratulations to Preston Bailey and Marcy Blum - two inspirational leaders in the field for their Mentoring Weekend.  For more information on future weekends with Bailey and Blum check out their websites.

Wedding Planning: Planning Forever

Congratulations to Saundra Hadley, owner and event engineer of Planning Forever Events, on their new website launch.

Wanna look?

Industry News: The Academy

What is the Academy?  We had no idea when we first heard of the Buzz going around twitter.  Put after doing some research, the Academy which is short for The Academy for Planners + Designers is an In Depth "HOW to Seminar" for Wedding Planner and Designers.  It's a 2 day education program for Wedding Planners and Event Designers that focuses on current trending topics like

"Forward Thinking" by Abby and Tait Larson of Style Me Pretty and Siri and Rosalind from Two Bright Lights

"Lifestyle weddings, Design Techniques" by David Beahm

"Behind the Scenes" by Todd Fiscus

Speakers include Rebecca Grinnals, Sean Low, Tara Guerard, Nancy Liu Chin, Grant Rector, Gene Higa to name just a few.

There is still a few spaces left so don't miss out.  Program starts on Sunday, March 14th.