Notes From the MRS! (OUR WEDDING, PART 2)

Let's go ahead and jump right into the next round of photos...


Ahhhh...the ballroom. There were tears. Plenty of happy tears. And I probably hugged Jodi at least a hundred times.

The sweet little faces of my Flower Girl and Ring Bearer....

And probably my favorite detail of the night, our "Breakfast at Midnight" late-night snack. Which included a beautifully-designed cereal bar (a nod to Chris and I's favorite food), savory mini breakfast sandwiches, and adorable french toast shooters. How fun is that?

Many, many, many thanks to the following vendors: In Any Event, Modern Day Floral, Jen Kroll Photography, Coastline Studios, MiraBella Confections, Handbags by Jen, Cascade Country Club, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Julie Strating Makeup Artist, Erin Brown from A Davis Brown Salon, Rumplestiltskin (the band), Peter Spickenagel (classical guitarist), Grand Rapids Trolley Company, and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Every time I see these photos, I end up looking at them forever in awe. It makes me so happy to finally be married to my favorite person in the whole world after five long years. Thank you to our friends and family for being there to share our day with us. Without you it would have not been complete. And of course, thank you to Jodi. You made this day absolutely beautiful. We love you very much.

~ Jillian

Notes From the MRS! (OUR WEDDING, PART 1)

Hello friends! Wow, I have missed you all for the past couple months! So here we now are, and the big day has finally come and gone. CHRIS AND I ARE OFFICIALLY HITCHED! And at last, I am a "Mrs". Can I just stop and tell you how blissfully happy it makes me to be able to say that? These past 2 months being a newlywed have been a blessing. It's truly been great. And I don't know about you, but these past couple of months have also completely flown by. It's like I blinked and all of a sudden, fall has begun.

After returning from Chris and I's beautiful Hawaiian honeymoon, we hit the ground running over here at In Any Event and Gwyneth Paige. We have some spectacular events in store that are right around the corner. But before we jump into all that, I need to finally share the photos of my wedding! I know, I am a little behind on getting these posted, and for that I apologize. But I am so happy to be revealing our wedding to you all because I am completely speechless over it ...still.

To Jodi and all our vendors, I cannot find a big enough way to express my gratitude to each one of you. I love you dearly. You helped make our big day a dream come true for not only myself, but for my husband, our family, and all of our beloved friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And to our readers, thank you for following me on my wedding planning journey. I loved being able able to share some planning tips, some sneak peeks, and some of my experiences with you. Please enjoy the first round of lovely photos below (taken by Jen Kroll...who captured our day perfectly.)

So many beautiful moments...


And the ceremony begins, with our dear bridal party of 16 {yes, SIXTEEN!} by our side...

Stay tuned for the reception and more special details in the next post!

~ Jillian

496 Unread Blog Posts

Yes, that's what my Google Reader told me this morning. What it should have said was, 'So sorry you've been too busy to visit lately.' For that matter, my sister recently sent a comment, ' Why have I had to read the same post for the last few months!' Okay. Point taken.

I do promise, I will resume to regular blogging later this fall. But in the mean time, it's gonna be 'spotty' while we work to produce the events for ArtPrize as well as two very spectacular weddings for Diana and Tony and Andrea and Michael. Both very different but equally fantastic! The fabulous Jen Kroll will be shooting both weddings as well as the ArtPrize events, and I can't wait to see what magic comes out of her camera!

So, since the last post two months ago, my assistant Jillian got married. Her husband, who is in his last year of medical school, has been placed in Grand Rapids for his rotations. {Yes, my lovely assistant is living in a different state then her husband right now! Bless her heart, the girl actually likes working for me and told her husband she wasn't moving to Toledo because of her job here in Grand Rapids! I swear. I didn't bribe her to stay but I would of if that was necessary!}. All of our Gwyneth Paige binders were shipped to their respective stores and within two days of their arrival, we had our first store sale to a major, in-the-news-a-lot celebrity. We added another part-time employee to help manage all the goodness around here. Her name is Betsy and we love her so! We enlisted the help of an interior designer to re-design the office to accommodate our growth and needs. Construction will begin in November and we'll be posting a slew of photos! And I finally came to the realization that I am not an invitation stylist and have hired one to 'style' the photo shoot for the release of Gwyneth Paige: Baby and Child and Gwyneth Paige: Bar and Bat Mitzvah.

Jill wants everyone to know that she's going to be posting all about her wedding next week. You'll get photos and details and all kinds of great information. But, since I haven't let her leave the office before 9:00pm this entire week, you can appreciate why she hasn't posted anything yet.

Finally, since all blog posts really should have a photo {even when they don't have stellar content like this post!} I'm going to leave you with a photo of my kids and our dogs!

Have a great weekend!

~Jodi

What if this is the last wedding I design?

Have you ever thought, 'What if this is the last wedding I design?' I have. In fact, I think about it a lot. You probably wouldn't have guessed that but it's true. I'm constantly critiquing my art and wondering if I'm good enough. And if I'll be hired again.

Most people think I'm as confident as the day is long. And there is a lot of truth to that. But, I do have a very vulnerable/insecure side. A side that only my family and closest friends know exists.

I said to a dear friend one time, 'Is it normal to think 'What if I don't get hired after this job is complete?' Her response was brilliant. She said, 'It's not only normal but it's healthy. It means you're not resting on your laurels and you're constantly trying to better yourself and your business. It means your business will thrive.'

Do you question yourself, too? Are you wondering if you're good enough? If so, I think it's a good thing. My friend convinced me of that. And now I embrace that insecurity. I don't let it paralyze me. But rather, I let it strengthen me!

~Jodi

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - Sneak preview of my Etsy wedding elements!

I don't want to give away too much before the big day, but I had to share these lovely details with you. So let's jump right into the fun!

A while back Jodi blogged about a shop that she found on Etsy called Milkpod Studio. This artist makes the most incredible fabric bouquets and boutonnieres that you have ever seen. So of course I fell in love with her designs the second Jodi showed me her stuff {anything that has textural elements like that, I am all over it!} This is hand-craftsmanship at it's best. And Milkpod Studio was just featured in this June 2010 issue of Brides magazine! The article is called "The Great Pretenders". Be sure to check it out and see more of her amazing work.




So what is my second great Etsy find, you may be wondering? Well, it is a shop called Brydferth. The designer creates the sweetest fabric rosettes, and makes them into rings, necklaces, shoe clips, hair clips, headbands, and more. She makes them in a wide variety of colors, too. Honestly, I probably could have ordered just about everything in her shop. But ultimately I pulled the reins on myself and I had her custom-make my hair piece for the wedding and matching shoe clips. The hair clip is a rosette trio with ivory, white, and champagne rosettes. Check out the photo below, isn't it fantastic? The rosettes that clip onto my shoes are ivory and match perfectly. It doesn't stop there, either. For my flower girl, we had a headband made with three white rosettes on it. She will look so adorable. And, of course, everything will coordinate beautifully.




~ Jillian

Is That the Highest Priority?

As a business owner, I need to know what my staff is doing on a daily basis. Now, don't get me wrong. I trust them and know they're working hard. And I truly have no interest in being a micro-manager. But, there are times when certain tasks must take precedence over others. And if I have not properly communicated this to my staff, then we're operating under different assumptions about what is important. And that's how mistakes happen.

That's why approximately 6 months ago, I implemented a new system in the office. Here's how it works. Every morning, I receive an email from each staff member with a list of projects they will be working on that day. The list looks something like this:

1. Highest priority...first thing to work on
2. Medium priority
3. Lowest priority
4. Only if I finish #1, 2 and 3, will I consider this task!

Once I review the list, I take the opportunity to talk with each person about the day ahead. This two-way communication also gives me the chance to re-prioritize tasks on their lists if need be. {This hasn't happened often, but it has happened.}

This task may seem elementary and even a little silly but there really is a good reason for the exercise. Actually, two good reasons. The first is reassurance each morning that the highest priorities for both businesses are being met. And that there won't be any surprises when I think a task is being worked on {only to discover it's been given low-priority status}. I don't like surprises and this helps eliminate them.

The second reason for this exercise is to keep my staff {and myself!} on-task, motivated and accountable. This usually isn't an issue when we're swamped and trying to survive! But, it does become an issue when we're slow and not driven by an event {or two, or three!}. It helps all of us use our time wisely and efficiently.

I really like what this system has done for us. Not only has communication improved, but I think it's empowered each person to fully embrace their position in the company and understand how vital their role is to our success. And frankly, I think there is no better employee than an empowered one!

~Jodi

Delegation = The Answer to Time Management

It's been long. Too long, I know. Since returning home from the National Stationery Show, my life has been nothing short of chaos. We've added two new pups to our home. {And our cat intensely hates them both!} My children finished the school year. I've added a new employee at Gwyneth Paige {welcome, Betsy!}. An intern at In Any Event {welcome, Audrey!}. And we now have 15 stores in seven states carrying the Gwyneth Paige line. All this in one month's time!

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about these past few weeks is how I can better manage my time and all of the demands on it. I've come to the conclusion that there's not much I can do that's not already being done. However, one thing I can do is rely more heavily on the good people that work alongside me.

Delegation has never been my strong suit. It's my perfectionist, type-A personality that causes this problem. My husband says you'll never run a successful business and be a good employer if you can't delegate. And you know, he's right. It truly is the answer to properly managing my time.

So, I'm trying to delegate more. I find that this is allowing me to work at a higher-level during the day. And empowering those around me to make good decisions. It's a great feeling. Things seem to be humming right along. And though I feel the stress that only a business-owner does, it's nice to divide the other stressors amongst friends!

How are you doing in the delegation department?

~Jodi

PS - I've decided to take this blog in a new direction. {Okay, let's face facts. There hasn't been much direction at all!} I'm going to focus on the 'raw truth' of owning a luxury planning firm and a couture letterpress company. In a sense, this blog will become my new 'public' journal. And I'm going to hold nothing back. You'll get to see the confident side of me as well as the vulnerable one. You'll discover what stresses me out on a day-to-day basis and what invigorates me. I think that this direction will really give me a lot to talk about and inspire my posts. I'm really excited for the future of this blog and its sustainability!