WeddingWire Bride's Choice Awards 2011

Fayetteville, AR– January 26, 2011} - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Rose of Sharon, Event Florist has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Flowers and Décor!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Rose of Sharon stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Rose of Sharon for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Rose of Sharon, Event Florist is among the very best in Flowers and Decor within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at Rose of Sharon WeddingWire Storefront.

For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com. 

Featured in CitiScapes

The January issue of CitiScapes includes their annual Wedding Planning section.  This January, one of our bouquets was featured...  

River Valley Bridal Extravaganza 2011

For the first time, we will be exhibiting at the River Valley Bridal Extravaganza.  The Extravaganza will be held this Sunday, January 23 from 1pm to 4pm at the Kay Rogers Park Expo Center in Fort Smith.  (MAP)

Bridal Fairs can be overwhelming.  As a bride, you'll be on the receiving end of tons of wedding information.  You'll be asked over and over, 'When's your wedding?'  And you'll be asked to sign up for prizes, drawings, and mailing lists. 

So, to help you enjoy the day a bit more, here are a few tips...

"...you'll be on the receiving end of tons of wedding information...":  Think about who you want to visit with.  If you already have a florist, let us know when you arrive in our booth. We still want you to look around (Hopefully, you'll change your mind and choose us instead!), but if you're sure about your current florist (or other vendor), don't feel like you HAVE to take our information.  It will also save you time, if you know ahead of time which vendors you want to visit.    

If you want more information about a vendor than is provided at the show, ask to schedule a consultation.  We're inundated with brides during this limited amount of time.  It's hard to remember that you wanted pink roses to go with your honeysuckle (the 2011 color, by the way) dresses, while another bride wanted white hydrangeas and absolutely no pink roses!  In a consultation, you'll have our undivided attention! 

Realize it will be crowded.  If you don't like crowds, avoid arriving when the show starts (1pm).  But don't wait too long.  Most vendors start leaving when the fashion show starts.  

"...You'll be asked over and over, 'When's your wedding?' And you'll be asked to sign up for prizes, drawings, and mailing lists...":  Bring address labels with your name, wedding date and contact information.  You can order pre-printed labels, make your own, or get a self-inking stamp.  Just bring something so you don't have to fill out the same information at each booth.  (We ask for this information because we want to know who visited us during the show.  We also want to stay in contact with you after the show.  So, if you prefer NOT to get further info from a vendor, be sure to make that known.)  

Bring your camera. There's no better way to remember an idea you liked or a vendor you want to work with.   

"... to help you enjoy the day a bit more..."  Visit our booth! During all the craziness, take a few minutes to relax and 'smell the roses.'  We hope to see you on Sunday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Wedding Vendor to Bride: The Wrap-Up

 

Week 5
My last post in this series left us at minus 20 days (December 12th).  I started to post for Week 5, but quickly realized that there really wasn't much to say.  The only significant thing that happened was getting the marriage license.  Other than that, I checked napkin colors, confirmed details with the JP, finalized the catering,  and got the travel information together for the honeymoon.  Not much to write about really.  Just checking things off the list.


Week 6
The next week was Christmas.  Absolutely no planning happened this week.  We spent the week with family, doing Christmas stuff.






Wedding Week!
* Monday: Minor details finalized. Payed vendors. Confirmed appointments for pampering.
* Tuesday: nothing wedding related, regular work day.

* Wednesday: flowers arrived.  Unfortunately, some of the flowers that I wanted, weren't available.  But my supplier always has great stuff, and since I wasn't set on anything specific, I made some changes and went with it.
* Thursday: Designed wedding flowers.  Hannah and Walt came in to help.  I designed my bouquet, Jason's boutonniere, and the bouquets for Adrian and Michelle.  Hannah took care of the centerpieces, and Walt worked on the ceremony setting pieces.  Everything came together beautifully!

  

  

(My bouquet, Jason's Boutonniere, Adrian's Bouquet, Michelle's Boutonniere)

Jason took care of the playlist today.   We decided to use an iPod because we just wanted background music, no dancing.

* Friday: Pampering Day!  Picked up my dress, and then spent some time with Adrian getting our nails done. (I love a good manicure and pedicure!).  My girlfriends took me out for massages and dinner for the perfect last-day-of-non-marriage.

Throughout the week, I was asked over and over about being stressed out.  But I wasn't.  Karie handled all the set-up details, and kept telling me to enjoy myself because everything was being taken care of.  I really feel like the only pre-wedding work I did was designing the flowers...and that's because I wanted to!

* Saturday: WEDDING DAY!  This day was absolutely perfect.  I can't think of a single thing that went wrong or that I would have changed.  Every vendor was great; every guest had a good time.  During the ceremony (OK, during Jason's vows), there wasn't a dry eye in the place.  As soon as I get the photos,  I'll share. On Monday, we left for Jamaica. 'nuff said!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things I'll be passing along to my clients:
> Hire a coordinator!  Worth every penny...especially during the last week.
> Don't be traditional unless that's who you truly are.  I'm not, Jason's not.  Having a traditional wedding would have felt off.  Instead we went with who we are and had a great time.
> Service matters!  Seeing the vendors through bride eyes brought home just how important this is.  I've always believed this and I always strive to provide great service for my clients, but now I KNOW how important it is.
> Hire a coordinator!  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Wonderful Vendors
coodinator: Karie Sutton, Weddings By Karie, http://www.weddingsbykarie.com/
photography: Andrea Parnell, www.andreaphotography.com
location: Compton Gardens, http://comptongardens.org/compton/index.htm
catering: Donna Welsh, Custom Catering, 479-751-8595
rentals: Eventures, http://www.eventurespartyrentals.com/
flowers: Hannah, Walt, Myself, Rose of Sharon, www.roseofsharon-eventflorist.com
rings: Israel Diamond (Tulsa), http://www.israeldiamond.com/, sales associate: Ashley
my dress & attendants' dresses: David's Bridal (Fayetteville), http://www.davidsbridal.com/HomeView, sales associate: Ashley
Jason's clothing: Walker Brothers, http://www.walkerbrothers.com/
hair: Roxie, Mayapple Salon, http://mayapplesalon.com/
makeup: Jessica, Luxe Beauty (Fayetteville), http://luxearkansas.com/
Justice of the Peace: Michelle Blaty, blaty4jp@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~