The best compliments I receive are directly from my Brides and Grooms! Hearing their joy makes my “job” so much easier. I previously blogged about Angela and Bobby’s big day on May 8th….but I wanted to share this message. I received this voicemail message from Bobby at 10:00 am the day following his wedding…this has to be one of the nicest “thanks” I have ever received:

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Tricia, it is Bobby and Angela, Mr. and Mrs!  Listen, we wanted to call you specifically this morning, we hope we are not waking you up.  We wanted to say that you originally started out as our wedding planner  and you evolved into such a great friend of ours during this one year plus process.  And we appreciate all your help.  We understand this is your job and it is what you are good at, but you took care of us as one of our good friends would take care of us.  And we love you very much and we appreciate everything, it was a fantastic night, as you can tell from my voice, and you were a major part of it.

 We want to make sure you feel good about what you do for people like Angela and I, because it was amazing!

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I truly love what I call a “job!”  To know that I helped create a day that two people will cherish for the rest of their lives is the main reason I love it so much!  Thank you for calling Bobby!

About a week ago, Genevieve Nisly and I held the first Northeast Ohio Bridal Soiree!  The night was planned as an inpirational cocktail hour for brides to gather ideas and meet wonderful wedding professionals, held at Brookside Country Club.  We partnered with Neil Leeson of Neil Leeson Decor and Floral to design 4 distinctly different weddings.  We paired his designs with linens, paper products, wedding dresses, and wedding cakes to create a complete look. 

We worked with some of Northeast Ohio’s absolute best professionals to create the evening.  Laura Woofter of Paper Allure, Dean Ross of Event Lighting, Abbott’s Bridal, West Side Bakery, Lnique Linens, Jerry Bruno Productions, 2nd Mile Productions, Canton Chair Rental, Be Seated, and ELM Rentals. 

Shall we plan another one?!?

Enjoy these pictures, taken by the phenomenal Genevieve and James Nisly!  And to see more, check out Genevieve’s Blog!

Neil Leeson mingles and answers questions with Brides!

Tricia and Genevieve welcoming guests!

Many of our professionals conducted mini seminars for Brides to gather additional information.

Brian Morris, of 2nd Mile Productions discusses videography trends.

Genevieve Nisly discusses how to get the most from your photography!

Now you may be curious why I would post on my blog about another coordinator….I am not worried about competition, never have been.  I was the person at bridal shows that would go up to other coordinators and instead of posing as a bride to steal their information, I would introduce myself….ask them to go to lunch and form a friendship.  I can’t do every wedding…..in fact, I am not a coordinator that wants to take on even dozens of weddings a year.  I take on several great clients each year, produce fantastic events for them and make sure that they feel as if THEY are the ONLY bride that I am working with. 

So yes, I become friends and recommend other coordinators.  One of my dear friends, Emilie Duncan, moved to Columbus a few years back.  When she lived here, we worked weddings together and learned from each other….I miss her but know she is very happy in Columbus with her business.

This past spring, I had the pleasure of becoming friends with a relatively new coordinator to our area, but NOT new to the business, Brandi Hammerstone of All Events Planned.  Brandi and I have little girls (2 year olds!) so we have a lot in common!  We now plan playdates and I even had Brandi help me at a wedding in August that was just incredible (I cannot share pictures at the request of the family).   And then she graciously coordinated my sister’s wedding as well in October!

Brandi is not afraid of competition either….and I think she thinks pretty highly of me and my business.  She recently did an interview of me for her blog….. her it is:  Brandi’s Blog!

So in Cleveland, we have a YEARLY contest with Fox 8 for the best in our area – they have pizza places, bars, and wedding professionals.  I won the contest in 2007, came in top 5 in 2008 and am on the list again this year.  I have not solicited ONE vote this year and it shows, I am sure I am in last place!  I really don’t believe the contest truly tells you anything other than being a bit of a “popularity contest”…..but the competitive nature of my personality thought I should at least put it on my blog for anyone that wants to have the link to vote!  So feel free to vote…I will say, the comments that people leave for me are quite nice….I look at them on a bad day and realize why I love my job so much!

http://fox8.cityvoter.com/always-eventful-inc/biz/57307

Eventually, I would love to go back and post about many of my past weddings!  It is hard to believe that I have been coordinating events for almost 10 years and have owned my own wedding planning business for 5!  Time truly flies.

I am going to eventually go back and blog about a lot of my past weddings – the gallery on my site has pictures from a lot of the weddings….but I would love to blog about interesting facts and such.  I will get to this in the months to follow! 

This summer I will blog about many of my weddings immediately after the weddings – or at least as soon as I have great pictures to share!  Some photographers will send me photos immediately – and I will blog these weddings quickly.  Others I may have to wait a bit of time!