Introducing our first weekly column: Q & A Monday

In the next month or so, the Flaire Weddings and Events blog is going to roll out some changes. I'm going to introduce some weekly columns, and our first one is going to be called "Q & A Monday." We'll post a question that we receive often, and post its answer as well. We'd also like to feature your wedding planning questions. We have a few questions lined up for our first several posts, but we need more for the upcoming weeks and months! Please comment on this post with a question you'd like to see addressed in this column, or feel free to email us here -- info@flairewedings.com to submit a more detailed, lengthy, or private question.

So, without further ado, here's our first Q & A Monday!

Question: "I've read in a lot of bridal magazines and planning books that you can save a lot of money by switching to a Friday or Sunday wedding. Have you found this to be true?"

Answer: Good question. The short answer is, yes, sometimes.

Now for the details. Certain things will usually not change in price, regardless of your wedding date. Invitations will cost the same amount per invite. Flowers will typically cost the same price per arrangement and bouquet. Your cake will usually cost the same amount, regardless of your wedding date. Notice that these are all products. Products tend to be priced the same amount, all the time. (There can be seasonal changes on some of these items, but not usually day-to-day changes.)

You can save money with SOME service-based wedding costs. For example, some DJ's I work with will charge a slightly lower rate for a Friday wedding, because now they have the option to earn income for 2 nights that week, instead of just one. Some photographers will do this as well, but not all because many feel they are giving you the same quality of service regardless of which day that service takes place.

The number one place you usually CAN save money is on your reception venue. Most Venues offer lower "Food and Beverage Minimums" for non-Saturday-evening events, because Saturday evening is considered the peak time to host an event. Now, if you are looking at a facility with a high F&B Minimum, this might be helpful. However, if you have a HUGE guest list and can already guarantee that you're going to be spending MUCH more than the F&B minimum, this is not much of a savings.
You can also save money on your venue if that venue charges a rental fee. Usually, those venues that charge a rental fee will offer other times of the week/year when that rental fee is lower.

So the true answer is that while money savings are possible, you're going to have to look very closely at your specific situation to see how the costs can be controlled.

For those brides considering hiring a planner, remember that a wedding planner will help you with budgeting, and can definitely recommend effective ways to cut costs based on his or her past experience.

Thanks for being with us here today on Q & A Monday, and don't forget: submit those questions you have so that we can keep this column updated!

Coming this weekend: The Wedding of Amanda and Matt!

We are so excited to be doing the wedding day coordination for Amanda and Matt this coming weekend. To begin, Amanda and Matt have chosen a super-chic venue, The Lange Farm, which is down in Dade City, Florida. We are thrilled to be taking the services of Flaire Weddings and Events "on the road" so to speak.

We'll be working with some fantastic vendors and I will post a wedding recap as soon as pictures are available.

For now, here are some adorable images from Amanda and Matt's engagement session. These pictures are courtesy of Jimmy Ho Photography.

Connect with Flaire Weddings!

I'm a big believer in the power of social media, and while many of you readers have already connected with me in many of these ways, I wanted to list them again so I can connect with more of you!

For those of you who Twitter, I'd love to have you as a follower! Here's my page. (If you don't already twitter you should consider it! It's a lot of fun.)

We're also on Facebook. My personal site is here and then we have a page for Flaire Weddings and Events as well. Please add me as a friend and become a "fan" of FW&E!

Finally, we'd love for you to subscribe to the blog as well. It's awesome to know who is reading!

Wedding Detail shots with my new Camera!

A few months ago, I posted about how I got my own digital SLR camera to take wedding detail shots. Well, I officially used it for that purpose a few weeks ago. I had the opportunity to assist my friend and colleage Layla of Wed With Ease at one of her weddings a few weeks ago. (That's part of the reason I love Jacksonville's wedding industry. So many of us are totally open and willing to work together for our businesses!) Layla assisted me with Christienne and Justin's wedding, so I in turn assisted her for the wedding of one of her couples in January.

Since the majority of my duties that day included reception set-up, I captured a few shots of the details.

Here are my faves:



I took quite a few more, but you'll have to stay tuned to Layla's blog to see them!

engage!09

I wanted to wait to post this until all my forms/confirmations/etc. went through, but it's OFFICIAL! I'm going to engage!09 in June!

I am SO excited about this opportunity. I remember when I first read about it back in December, and set an appointment on my phone right then and there to be sure I signed up as soon as registration opened.

I am thrilled I'll get to meet some of today's hottest wedding professionals! Really looking forward to meeting Lara Casey, Liene Stevens, Abby Larson and so many others.

Here are just a few images to give you a taste of what I'll be up to....




Who else is going?? Comment and let me know!

Featured on Style Me Pretty!

I got an awesome message on Facebook last week from one of my favorite brides, Christienne! Christienne and her husband Justin got married at the Club Continental this past September, and we had such a blast assisting them with the planning and coordination. Anyways, back to the Facebook message. Christienne informed me that the fabulous wedding blog, Style Me Pretty, wanted to feature her wedding pictures!

This was by far one of my favorite weddings of 2008, and I'm so happy it was chosen to be showcased. Photographer Agnes Lopez is one of Style Me Pretty's "Little Black Book" members, and she submitted these photos to the blog.

To see the posting, click here.

Congratulations Christienne and Justine on the feature -- it was definitely a blast working with you both!

My Trash The Dress Pictures!

A few months ago, I did a "Trash the Dress" session with fab photographer Corinna Hoffman. We had a blast at the Jacksonville Fair, getting some fun and crazy shots! We just met up recently and Cory gave me my CD of images, so even though you all saw the teaser a few months ago, I wanted to post my favorites from the session!

Here they are, in no particular order. :)




My absolute favorite shot of the day!!







Thanks again, Corinna! You did a fantastic job and I am so happy with how they turned out.