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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

November Appreciation: Weddings by MP (MP Media)

MP Media or Mark and Pamela are UK wedding photographers extraordinaire. Fine art photojournalism at it's best. I appreciate them allowing me to use their fabulous photos on the blog! And if I make it to England one day, I hope to thank them in person and convince them to take some family photos for us in the beautiful English countryside!  Here is more about them, along with some of their work.
Weddings by MP (MP Media) consists of a team of multi-talented individuals, led by Mark and Pamela. The company specialises in Fine Art, and provides both photography and videography services around the UK and worldwide. Mark and Pamela are directly involved in the creation of fine art photography and film, and its subsequent post-production. They are supported by a team of professionals who ensure the very highest levels of customer care are met.

The business began six years ago with Mark being the main photographer. Pamela focussed solely on marketing, and became more involved in post-production three years ago. Her talents were evident and extended beyond her original marketing expertise, as her original background is in fine art, and this will always remain her first love. The company has grown consistently each year; they not only maintain strong relationships with their clients, but also with key organisations within the wedding industry.

Their clients provide inspiration, as their requirements are different; from the style of each wedding to the detail, each product is tailored to each client's personal specifications.

In an industry dominated by trends; this has never influenced MP Media's style, and the company continues to invest in latest technologies to ensure their clients receive the very highest quality of products and services available.

With numerous awards to their name, the MP Media team still regard their greatest achievement as the continuous feedback received from their clients complimenting them on the outstanding level of service received.
Below is an example of some of the images Team MP captured at Terri and Paul's wedding in the United Kingdom
View www.mpmedia.co.uk for additional information.
Also visit on Twitter @MPMediaTeam 
Facebook at www.facebook.com/teammpmedia
Instagram at www.instagram.com/mpmedia
Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/customerser3827/

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

November Appreciation: Wedding Market

Wedding Market provides industry news, market trends, and marketing information for the international wedding market and bridal marketI stumbled upon #WeddingMarket Twitter chat for wedding professionals a while back and have been hooked since. Host, Julie Albaugh, does an amazing job of making everyone feel welcome and provides a supportive atmosphere for networking. She brings some pretty interesting and famous personalities on the chat too! Some of the Wedding Market guests have included Cake Boss, Disney Weddings, Preston Bailey, Sharon Sacks, The Knot and WeddingWire. Wedding Market was selected as #3 of the top 10 Social Media influencers in the Wedding Industry by Wed Biz Media. With so much to learn in the ever-changing wedding industry, this is one networking group you don't want to miss! Every Wednesday at 1pm EST on Twitter.
To learn more visit:

Monday, November 24, 2014

November Appreciation:The Giving Bride Lingerie

It's always great to share the work of others, especially when they are invested in helping those around them. Enter Maggie Gillette, Founder and Creative Director of The Giving Bride. Maggie combines her love of fashion and philanthropy by designing beautiful lingerie and giving a portion of each sale to women's charities. Here's a look at some of her lovely lingerie and a little more about it in her own words: 
Started in 2012, The Giving Bride creates timeless lingerie for the discerning bride. Our classic styles are made from luxury fabrics and high end finishes and are embellished with French lace and hand placed Swarovski crystals.  
Our goal is to make beautiful lingerie that a bride will want to wear on her wedding day-and all the days to come after it!  The Giving Bride Lingerie is currently available for purchase online (we also ship internationally through Bellabellaboutique.com), though we may be in stores in the US soon.
The Giving Bride also has a strong focus on making our clothing in an ethical manner.  All of our lingerie is made in New York and a portion of every purchase goes to women's charities.  Our current partner is a domestic violence shelter outside Chicago.  
For more information visit
www.thegivingbride.com
www.facebook.com/thegivingbride
www.twitter.com/thegivingbride
www.pinterest.com/thegivingbride
www.instagram.com/thegivingbride

Friday, November 21, 2014

November Appreciation: Glessner Photography

I connected with Glessner Photography on Twitter and was immediately taken with how friendly and talented they were. Their photos are creative and fun and captures the excitement of the moment. Thank you Eric and Betsy for graciously allowing me to feature many of your photos on the blog. Have a look at some of their great photos below and learn more about the dynamic duo in their own words:
We are a husband and wife team based around Johnstown, PA. We are looking for kind, fun, and easy-going individuals to photograph who enjoy and appreciate photography as much as we do.  We specialize in wedding photography with dramatic lighting and a semi-fashion look.  Our love for photography really began after our first child, Mylee, was born in 2008. The desire to capture special moments only grew when our son, Liam, was born in 2010. We loved taking pictures of our children throughout the years and it has led us to broaden our photographic horizons. We now have evolved into photographing engagements, weddings, maternity, newborn, sporting events and senior portraits. Our goal is to keep growing as photographers with each click of the shutter and become the best photography team in the area. We would love to be able to photograph your special event!
For more information contact Eric and Betsy Glessner at (814) 487-1331
Website: http://www.ebglessner.com/contact
Twitter @EricGlessner      Instagram at www.instagram.com/GlessnerPhotography
Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/ebglessner  
Facebook at www.facebook.com/glessnerphotos

Thursday, November 20, 2014

November Appreciation: Laugh Staff

Funny man, Josh Womack and Laugh Staff caught my eye and tickled my funny bone on the world wide web. Who can't use a little help and humor when it comes to speech writing? I love what this team is doing so much, that I had them write a guest article for this blog! Here's more about Laughstaff and a couple of new promo videos too!
Laugh Staff was founded in March of 2013 by Josh Womack and Cameron Amigo, two-part time comedians from Cleveland, OH. Laugh Staff’s goal is to help best men and maid of honors deliver hilarious and heartfelt wedding toasts. Laugh Staff aims to prepare best men and matrons of honor with great content and a working script for them to wow the audience (the best man’s dance moves will cancel out the great speech later in the night, but nothing we can do about that).
The comedians at Laugh Staff realize public speaking is a fear of Ebola-like magnitude and are crusading to help best men and maids of honor everywhere.
As of right now Laugh Staff focuses on the wedding industry, but plans to move into the realms of corporate & retirement speeches along with helping all the single ladies, all the single ladies (you just sang it in your head, right) AND single guys write their online dating profiles. By 2014, 7 out of 10 relationships will start online. Laugh Staff doesn’t want to speak for you, we just want to help you speak for yourself.
Check us out at http://www.laughstaff.com/ 
Twitter @Laughstaff
Facebook at www.facebook.com/LaughStaff
Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/laughstaff

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November Appreciation: Hitched in a Hurry

I was introduced to Karley Kiker and her book, Hitched in a Hurry, not long ago on a Twitter wedding chat. Having a short engagement myself (several years ago), I immediately knew she was onto something with her book for brides and grooms who want to plan their wedding in 6 months or less. More about Karley and her book, in her own words:
Hitched in a Hurry: The ultimate how-to for a speedy "I do" is a guide for brides planning weddings in six months or fewer. Packed with tips, charts, and organizational tools tailored to fit tighter timelines, Hitched in a Hurry also contains interviews with real-life couples that successfully turned short engagements into lifelong love affairs. So forget those Wedding World naysayers (You'll walk the aisle naked!) and toss aside that traditional 12-18 month timeline, too. If you and your fiancĂ© have said we will to fast forwarding to I do, then kick off your heels, lace up those running shoes, and prepare to plan. The finish line isn't that far away! 

HOW HITCHED MEASURES UP (and stands out!) 
  • Traditional planning guides assume brides will be engaged for 12-16 months, making Hitched in a Hurry the only complete roadmap on the market for women planning weddings in six months or fewer.
  • At 118 pages, Hitched in a Hurry is the perfect length for a "bride on the fly" who doesn't have time to read a 500-page tome on wedding planning.
  • Every chapter of the book ends with a real-life love story and an interview with a former speedy bride-to-be, providing "It CAN be done"-encouragement for readers.
  • Condensed planning timelines, checklists, creative gift ideas, suggested registry items, Q&A sections, budgeting insights, after-the-aisle tips, and other workbook -type materials are included inside Hitched in a Hurry to make the wedding planning process as simple and straightforward as possible.
  •  Hitched in a Hurry combats the "This is YOUR day"-lie by focusing on building a healthy marriage rather than just planning a bride-focused event that's over and done in a 24-hour period. The book also contains a whole chapter written from a man's perspective (Chapter 8, "Guy Talk"). Imagine that!
  • About The Author
    A graduate of Pepperdine University with a degree in Creative Writing, Karley Kiker interned for Us Weekly and D Magazine, worked as an au pair in Southern France, and attended parties as a society columnist for People Newspapers before speeding through a 4.5-month engagement and marrying her handsome husband, Taylor. She lives in Dallas, Texas. Hitched in a Hurry: The ultimate how-to for a speedy "I do" is her first book. Most importantly, she is saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, who wrote her the most beautiful love story imaginable and has continually provided for her in every season. (Eph. 3:20-21 says it all.)
    For more information visit www.hitchedinahurrybook.com or www.karleykiker.com or to purchase the book on Amazon visit, http://amzn.to/1tBcpWR

Friday, November 14, 2014

November Appreciation: Leah Moyers Photography

I was fortunate to connect with Leah Moyers nearly a year ago, when I needed a photograph for an article I wrote for Chicago Style Weddings. She was professional and reliable and her photos were fantastic. I've enjoyed working with Leah ever since. Thank you, Leah! Here's more about her and a look at some of her wonderful work. In her own words:
I'm an East Tennessee girl with a background in fine art photography. Educated in Baltimore (BFA from MICA) and Chicago (MFA from SAIC) living in Knoxville, TN- I'm a traveling wedding and lifestyle photographer available to work locally and worldwide. I am honored to be a member of the WPJA, Fearless Photographers, and a Rockstar Approved Vendor with Rock n Roll Bride. My work has been featured on Offbeat Bride, The Knot, The Bride Link, H&H Weddings, Huffington Post Weddings, Bridal Balance, The Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Style Weddings Magazine, A Bicycle Built For Two,Yes Bride, and more. 
For more information, visit Leah's website at www.leahmoyers.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leahmoyersphotography
Twitter: @LeahMoyersPhoto
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/leahmoyersphoto
Instagram: www.instagram.com/leahmoyersphotography

Thursday, November 13, 2014

November Appreciation: Knotsvilla

Meeting new people at wedding Twitter chats is a fun part of this job. That's where I met Gee, who hosts #WeddingChatter weekly. She maintains an awesome blog filled with lots of cool details, photos, and wedding inspiration. More about Knotsvilla here from the founder herself.
KnotsVilla (previously known as Everything Weddings And More) is an international wedding blog, founded September 2nd 2012 with the sole purpose of helping Brides with Inspiration and Education for a smooth wedding planning process. I created this blog just a few months after I planned my own wedding and decided to give back to the community in one way I knew best; Blogging!

KnotsVilla aims to bring her readers as much as it can about planning the wedding and enjoying the journey. The goal is to keep the readers informed about the fast growing Wedding industry and offer help to anyone who may be planning or just searching for more information/ideas.

While this blog's main goal is towards the Bride and her Groom, KnotsVilla is also passionate about highlighting great wedding vendors and connecting them with potential clients. In the perfect world, KnotsVilla would be the place where the Bride and Groom learn how to visualize their wedding, plan it, and also connect with the Vendors of their dreams! 
Knotsvilla's major style of posts are:
Real Events (Weddings, Engagements, Anniversaries, etc)
Color/Theme Inspiration Posts
Advice for Wedding Planning
Bridal Style/Fashion Posts
This year KnotsVilla turned 2 and decided to give a twist to the kind of real events featured on the blog. While KnotsVilla is in love with the classic wedding/engagement styles, our readers seemed to be more intrigued with more details. So as of September, KnotsVilla began to focus more on Theme-ful, Prop-ful Color-ful, Culture-ful events. Whether it's a Vintage Picnic Engagement session or a South African cultural weddingKnotsVilla wants to see them all.

About the Editor
My name is Gee and I'm the editor of KnotsVilla (once upon a time known as Everything Weddings And More). A Christian Girl, born and raised in Nigeria, and currently globetrotting North America (Canada to U.S.A to Canada) for different reasons, such as School, Work and Marriage. As of today, I reside in the beautiful city of Toronto where I live the life of a full time housewife and professional wedding blogger.

Like a few others out there, my passion for Wedding Planning was brought to light after I planned my wedding in June 2012. After my wedding, I realized I had too much information and guidance left in my head to just ignore the urge to help fellow brides in the process, so KnotsVilla came to life! 
I love blogging and researching about pretty things like weddings. I also love networking - I am shy in person but I do well with meeting people online! Being the chatty girl I am, I started a twitter chat all about weddings called #WeddingChatter. Myself and fantastic brides and vendors meet on Twitter every Friday at 3 pm EST to chat (tweet) about weddings. You are invited!

Contact Knotsvilla;
Twitter: @knotsvilla
Instagram: @knotsvillaWeddings
Pinterest: @knotsvilla
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KnotsVilla
Website: www.knotsvilla.com

Friday, November 7, 2014

November Appreciation: My Hotel Wedding

Lauren and the folks at My Hotel Wedding are amazing. Not only is their website loaded with great information, wedding inspiration and insider tips, they are always adding extra touches. Be sure to check out their Wedding Wednesday videos. Here's more in their own words:
When planning a wedding in her own family, Lauren found that most wedding websites came up short when it came to finding not only wedding inspiration but also actual insider tips and tricks of the trade. Using her extensive experience in luxury hotel event management and her talent for creating world-class parties and events, Lauren founded My Hotel Wedding in 2012 as a solution to this need. My Hotel Wedding supplies couples with both knowledge and creative ideas for their dream hotel weddings by featuring real hotel weddings, fabulous fashion inspiration, wedding planning tools, and tips from seasoned hotel wedding professionals.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

November Appreciation: OFD Consulting

I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for the wonderful Meghan Ely. She is the wedding business coach who helped me visualize my dreams, with Bridal Balance. Not only is she knowledgeable, dependable and hard working, she is fun, friendly, and easy to work with. More about Meghan and her company in her own words: 
OFD Consulting owner, Meghan Ely, combines in-the-trenches event experience with a love of marketing, public relations and the wedding industry to empower her clients to take their businesses to new heights.
After graduating magna cum laude with a degree in Public Relations from James Madison University, she began her career at a historic southern estate, where she steadily increased sales before joining a five-star, five-diamond property for several years. In early 2009, with over 200 weddings under her belt, Meghan launched OFD Consulting.
Meghan is a regular contributor to The Knot, and is a WeddingWire Education Expert. She is a frequent guest on a number of industry blogs, most recently serving as one of The Special Event's "Voices of TSE" for 2012 and 2013.
Meghan is a sought-after speaker on a broad range of wedding marketing and wedding PR topics at industry events and conferences. She was the charter Marketing Director for the Richmond Chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events (NACE) and now serves on their national education committee. She is also a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants and regularly writes for their industry publication Wedding Planner Magazine.
Meghan was honored as one of the "Top 40 under 40" by Style Weekly Magazine. She is an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, specializing in public relations and branding.
To learn more visit OFD Consulting at www.ofdconsulting.com or on Twitter @OFDConsulting and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ofdconsulting

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

A Month of Gratitude

What better way to celebrate November and Thanksgiving than dedicating this month to showing my appreciation for those wedding professionals who have helped me or this blog in one way or another. I asked them to write up a bit about themselves so I can feature it here this month. For those who weren't able to send in something or who were too busy, I'll mention them in our Wedding Wednesday Weekly Roundups. If I've forgotten anyone, it was unintentional (forgive me in advance). Gratitude quotes and tips will round out this month of appreciation.
Of course, none of this would be possible without a few personal thank you's of my own. So I've included the top 10 things I am thankful for outside of work. I encourage you to do the same. In addition to being therapeutic, it might just help you appreciate some stuff you weren't aware of before.
Appreciation: My Top 10 List (in no particular order):
1) My Husband- A wonderful husband and terrific dad, I'm fortunate every day for all the things he does, love he provides, laughs he induces, and support he gives.
2) My Family- They may be a little quirky, but they're family. I'm so thankful they raised me the way they did and taught me that I could do anything. Their love is endless.
3) My Princesses- Our two very active little girls keep me on my toes and make me laugh and run daily.
4) My In-Laws- Okay. How many people get to say that? I am blessed with the best in-laws ever! Not only are they there when we need them, they create special moments every time we get together. 
5) My Health- Sure I could use a bit more sleep and a few less calories (I blame the kids), but not a day goes by that I don't appreciate my health. I wouldn't be here without it!
6) My Home- When I got married, I knew I wanted not just a house, but a home. We've slowly created one and each day I look forward to making it the cozy, warm living space I always imagined it to be.
7) My Time- It's not a lot during the day, but I appreciate the moments I get to spend one on one with each of my family members. These are the special times in life I remember most(although it's not a bad idea to write such memories down).
8) My Talents- It takes talent to be able to juggle so many things. I'm good at multitasking and time management, so I can accomplish more than it might seem possible. By no means perfect, but very thankful to have been bestowed with such gifts.
9) My Friends- We all need friendship. I have been blessed with knowing some amazing people. Each different in his or her own way, but I've learned something from every one of them. And for that, I am grateful.
10) G-d- Without my spiritual beliefs and G-d, I don't know where I would be. But I trust and depend on Him always to get me through each day. Amazingly enough He does!