Thursday, February 7, 2008

I am super excited today. Maybe not excited enough to get out of bed before 9am so you could read before heading to lunch. Oh - you don’t think I know your schedule by now? My site gets really busy between 930am and 1130am. Then - every leaves me and returns around 1-2pm. So, sorry that I didn’t post earlier but I guess you’ll catch me after lunch:)

Back to the excitement - so yesterday, I drove out to meet Lynette of McNeal Video. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that in the past I haven’t been a huge fan of wedding videography - you can see my post to MelissaandWyatt on the message board. I got a bad wedding video and paid a lot for something I will NEVER watch again. But, after visiting her blog and watching some AMAZING videos and reading about all of the beautiful Nashville weddings she’s covered, I was open minded but still not persuaded.

Lynette’s blog is now one of my favorite Nashville bridal blogs. It features tons of Nashville brides and the details of their wedding days. Expect to see more of Lynette’s work on my site soon but click to view the Curry & Russ wedding.

Anyway, she greeted me at the door and we instantly connected. She had Oprah showing in her office (love Oprah) so I knew we would at least be gal-pals. Well, as we chatted I realized I didn’t know anything about wedding videos. I told her my story about my horrible wedding video experience and the first thing she said was “You got your wedding video in two weeks? That was a big sign of a problem”.

Really? I had no clue that was too soon to get a wedding video. We’re brides - what do we know about what to expect, what’s good/not good. The guy I hired advertised everywhere, was a member of TWESA and came highly recommended by…other wedding vendors. I thought I’d done my homework but I guess not. Moral of the story is - do your research. One way is to check out Nashville bridal blogs and ask to speak with a bride they’ve featured on their blog. That way you can compare the work with the bride’s feedback. Don’t just take my word either. I am introducing you to folks I like but unless I say I’ve hired them, I don’t know first hand either. Chat on my message board with brides. Most of all, follow your gut - if they aren’t responsive, don’t give you a receipt, don’t return emails - DONT HIRE THEM!

OK - Back to McNeal Video…After leaving McNeal I was optimistic about wedding videography. Here’s what I learned:

1) She knows and leverages technology - Lynette has an iPhone. OK - this might not mean a lot to you but it tells me that she is on the cutting edge of technology. I asked for a calculator and she pulled out a freakin’ iPhone. Unbelievable. Even better, her iPhone houses wedding videos. BTW - McNeal offers her brides an iPhone/iPod service where she’ll put your wedding videos in a format that you can easily add to your iPhone/Pod. How hot is that!

2) She gets brides - Lynette informed me that she only does weddings - no corporate events, no parties, just weddings. So, she is 100% dedicated and focused on brides and what matters to brides. (There aren’t many videographers who focus solely on weddings.) Plus, she’s a woman (sorry guys) so she knows how important each detail is and wants to capture that.

3) She’s educates you and keeps you informed - Woman after my own heart. I love the fact that she took time to educate me. She said that a a good video should take a lot longer than 2 weeks to produce. She said that it usually takes 6 months for her to finalize a wedding video, but she gives her brides a preview in about 3 months or so. I couldn’t believe it took that long until she told me the process - how she leaves a wedding with 20 tapes of footage and then edits, boils it down to a few final DVDs. But, I love that she places her edit schedule on her blog edit schedule on her blog so you know what to expect.

If you hired McNeal, please comment on this post. I’d love to hear from you and see what you thought of your video and working with them.

If you can hire someone like McNeal who really is passionate about weddings and really good, I say definitely budget for a great videographer. If you can’t hire someone great, put the money toward a super duper photographer. I would rather have a great video or great pics vs. so-so pics and video.

That’s my two cents. Off to lunch!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Amie of Simply Exquisite recently visited Murfreesboro’s Carriage Lane Inn, a Tennessee Bed and Breakfast, to see if it was an option for one of her Nashville brides. Since many of you are searching for Nashville-area wedding venues, I asked Amie to tell us a little more about Carriage Lane Inn. Since she’s a wedding planner, I appreciate her insight.

Anyway, here’s what Amie had to say…

Carriage Lane Inn: An Intimate spot with everything you need on your wedding day!

I recently had the pleasure to visit a wonderful venue, Carriage Lane Inn & Reception House, which is located about 30 minutes from Nashville in Murfreesboro. The Reception House is a newly restored historic home that gives character to the bride looking for a small, more intimate wedding or a rehearsal dinner location.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Since I wasn’t able to attend Saturday’s bridal luncheon, Hillary of A Magical Affair volunteered to fill us in on what we missed. Here’s her scoop….

This Saturday, at the splendid The Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, the Nashville Lifestyles Weddings Magazine hosted their first ever bridal luncheon, featuring the very talented Tara Guerard of Soiree Events, the Letter Olive paper company, and author of Southern Weddings.

Attendees were greeted by the event coordinator (and Nashville Lifestyle’s resident event planner- and future bride to be!) Elizabeth Broyhill, the current bridal edition of Nashville Lifestyles Weddings, & a great note pad and pen. After exiting the entryway, Social Graces told guests about an exclusive event signing at their 21st Avenue store, complete with cake and wine. Before entering the atrium, guests were given a sparkling glass of Korbel champagne. What better way to set the tone for a beautiful afternoon than with a nice glass of bubbly!

The Vendors:

B. Hughes Bridal: Nashville brides in gowns graced the lobby, greeting guests as they arrived with beautiful ladies in couture gowns, from Vera Wang to Badgley Mishka. The dresses were amazing, and B. Hughes had a lovely display table with fresh flowers and photographs. They definitely added to the very upscale and elegant vibe of the Hermitage.

Brentwood’s The Premiere Event brought some lovely tablescapes for display, touting that they’re “Not your Ordinary Party Rental and Event Company.” They have elegant crystal barware, Aegean china, silver centerpieces and trays, even oriental fountains and cigar accessories. My favorite: the baroque torchierres featured in their catalogue- they’re amazing and oh-so-unique. Be sure to check out their site.

I sampled some delicious eats from Creme. I loved, loved, loved the display: long, flat glass trays were labeled beautifully, and each delicious offering was on a tiny square dish with Tiffany-blue colored rock salt. Their tablecloth in coordinating colors really added to the look- it was almost too pretty to eat, but eating I did (and my, it was yummy!)

Town and Country limousine offered a great giveaway with a super plush mousepad. I really needed a new one, so I was thrilled. Plus, who doesn’t love useful free things? Not me! Anyway, visit their website to see their great selection of cars from this Nashville vendor that opened its doors in 1989. You can even get an instant quote.

After perusing the vendors, guests mingled in the Hermitage lobby, enjoying Phyllis Taylor Sparks, a harpist that has an extensive repertoire- I even heard the Fray’s “How to Save a Life”. She does all kinds of events, from weddings to dinners, and she’s got a Cd, too. Fantastic!

The elegant luncheon reception treated guests to a glass of Little Black Dress Chardonnay, a delicious chicken breast, spring greens salad with wax beans and a light vinaigrette, and a lovely apple tart. They also had these divine little biscuits that I couldn’t get enough of. The tables were decorated in an array of different sized and shapes of arrangements, all from the Tulip Tree. We ran into Mary Alice & Amber of A Delightful Day (and you can see the arrangement behind them) and had to snap a picture and say “hi.” Soon after lunch, Soiree owner Tara Guerard spoke about three of her favorite weddings, her favorite ideas, her personal approach to event planning, and opened the floor to Q&A.

All in all, it was a great afternoon at the Hermitage hotel!

Hillary

Monday, February 4, 2008

Visit “The Bride’s Loop”, our new message boards today to share ideas, recommend vendors, and exchange advice for your upcoming Nashville wedding.

This community was especially created with you in mind - to be your number one resource to connect with other brides and wedding professionals in the Nashville area.

What’s helpful to know about our message boards:

1) Registration is super simple - It takes like 3 seconds to register but please note that the message board registration is different than your ABG bride account/vendor account registration. (Sorry, it’s a glitch we’re working on. But for now, we recommend creating an account using the same username and password you used when you joined ashleysbrideguide.com).

2) Nashville folks are hospitable, even when we’re virtual - Our message boards are very helpful. Ask a question and you can be sure that a fellow Nashville bride or Nashville wedding expert will respond. I’ve connected with some very informed brides and helpful Nashville vendors on this board. You can also send private emails via the message board. Have dish on a vendor you’re not quite comfortable sharing with hundreds of folks? Send someone a private message instead. Bottom line - why plan your wedding alone when you have help 24/7?

3) You get goodies when you help others - Starting today, you can get prizes when you help others (or get help). It’s true, only our site rewards you with fancy prizes just for chatting w/babes online. (Sorry - that was a line from Napoleon Dynamite and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use it:). Seriously, just post at least 10 quality messages a month and you’ll be entered into our drawing for hot prizes. (Message board and blog comments both count!) The first prize will be drawn on March 1.

4) It’s 100% Nashville area-based and Nashville area-focused -We’ve finally got our own site! Believe it or not, but AshleysBrideGuide.com is the only site whose content and community are managed but local Nashville brides and local wedding professionals. No more sharing with national sites or sites that say they’re local but they aren’t:) This is one site that was created exclusively for Nashville wedding planning. Only here can you connect with Nashville brides (versus brides all over Tennessee or the country) and Nashville wedding professionals who know Nashville, the best venues, caterers and more.

See you on the boards!