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!

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - Wedding Invitation Photos!

Hello friends! Wow, has May really come and gone already? With us having such an eventful month, including a week at the National Stationery Show in New York, my mind has been blissfully preoccupied with all things Gwyneth Paige and In Any Event. So much so that I almost didn't realize I am less than ONE month away from getting married {insert the anxiety attack here}. That's right, a month from now I will officially be "Mrs. Clark" and will be exploring Maui with my hubby.

This next month is the home stretch for getting all my wedding details wrapped up, and it is sure to churn out some good blog post material. But before we move forward on any of that, I have to share my wedding invitations because I have been dying to show you what they look like! They were delivered a few weeks ago, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't nearly injure myself trying to get the box open because of how uncontrollably excited I was. Right away I took some super quick photos to post up here {but please forgive the awful photography work, I only had my iPhone camera on hand}.

The design suite that we chose for our wedding invitations is called Claire. Ahhh...our sweet and shabby Claire! We used fuchsia and champagne ink to customize it to my wedding color scheme. We also used ivory ink for the quilted background, but the ivory is subtle and referred to as a blind deboss because you don't necessarily notice the ink. It's just used to highlight and show off the beautiful, deep impressions in which letterpress is known for. Mmmm, delicious!

{Invite and Envelope with Liner}

{Reply Card}

{Web Card}

Another great detail to notice? The offset printing on the backs of my invitations, reply cards, and web cards. It adds a beautiful "pop" of color in an unexpected way. And our brilliant Andrea recommended that we create small, business card-sized web cards for my guests, telling them to visit our wedding website instead of printing accommodation and direction cards. This was a huge help because it is a great way to save money {and paper} on the invitations. Plus the cards are so darn cute.

{Offset printing on back of Invitation}

{Offset printing again}

Before mailing them out, I secured together each suite {meaning each invitation, reply card, reply envelope, and web card} with a beautiful, deep fuchsia satin ribbon and a hand-made wax seal for the finishing touch. I hope my guests enjoy them as much as I do!

~ Jillian

National Stationery Show Recap

We're home! Back in our office and back into action which {to be honest} feels great after a whirlwind week in New York City. We were busy little bees last week exhibiting our new invitation company at the National Stationery Show; which took place at the Jacob Javits Center. I could not be happier with the response we received there. Truth be told, I'm already looking forward to next year! {Can anyone say: Gwyneth Paige Baby & Child and Gwyneth Paige Bar and Bat Mitzvah?!}



We were so fortunate to meet some very talented people including retailers, bloggers, and fellow exhibitors. I especially loved the fantastic collaboration that is Ladies of Letterpress. And as if spending 4 days with other wonderful wedding vendors wasn't enough, we received a surprise visit from our very good friends, Jen and Alicia. They flew all the way out to New York to support our grand debut. Honestly, aren't they the best?! Truly amazing women who will be lifelong friends.

All in all, the trip was better than I expected and now I am ready to dive, head-first, into the busy months that lie ahead. Working with our 12 new Gwyneth Paige retail stores, preparing for ArtPrize events, and working on several amazing weddings {including one next month!} will keep all of our plates full. It's going to be a very good summer.

~ Jodi

Gwyneth Paige Featured

Today, Gwyneth Paige is featured on the amazing blog, Oh So Beautiful Paper! We're so excited to be a sponsor on Nole's beautiful blog and we can't WAIT to meet her at NSS in 10 short days!

Can you believe that Gwyneth Paige's national debut is just around the corner? I have pit in my stomach just thinking about it! I've got an array of emotions cursing through my veins: excitement, nervousness, anxiousness and sheer joy. How can one have so many emotions at one time, that's what I want to know!

Needless to say, we're knee-deep in gray and ivory spray paint, frantically searching for proper clip-on lights for our booth, mailing out invitations to stores and media, and proofing the look-book before it goes to press. There truly is no rest for the weary!

Be sure to pop over to Nole's blog and check out our new ad!

~Jodi

Making Little Girl's Dreams Come True

I received an email from a dear friend this morning. We had talked in church on Sunday and she had asked how my week had been. Well, last week was a horrible one. The realities of running a growing business and the tough talks and decisions I had to make wore heavily on my heart. It felt like one thing after another and I was extremely burdened.

My girlfriend's lovely email was a note of encouragement for the week that lies ahead. And one of the things she wrote struck me. It said, 'No matter how tough things get remember that you make little girl's dreams come true.'

Attached to the email was a copy of the interview that she conducted with her adorable 6 year old, Jenna, last year. It is so precious that I absolutely had to share it with you. Here goes:

Tell mommy about your wedding {by Jenna, age 5}

"I am going to marry Derek because Derek is the name of the prince in The Twelve Dancing Princesses. No, I am going to marry Ben because he is my boyfriend and boyfriends usually marry their girlfriends! Ben is so handsome. He makes my eyes sparkle like diamonds. I love him.

I am not sure hold old I will be when we get married. We will get married at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, where the butterflies fly. I will wear a shimmering white, light pink, and light blue dress with no sleeves. I will wear a sparkly glitter veil, a necklace and earrings. My bouquet will be made of sparkly pink roses, white daisies, pink lilies, and yellow daffodils. Ben will wear a black and white tuxedo. He will be a marvelous husband.

Rosie and Sophie will be bridesmaids. They will wear yellow dresses with flowers in their hair. Mommy will wear a beautiful golden dress and daddy will wear a pretty tuxedo. Kaitlin and Chloe will be flower girls. Kaitlin will wear a beautiful silver dress. Chloe will wear a light pink dress with a little ribbon and light blue flower buds on it.

Our cake will be made without peanuts. It will have lots of sweet stuff in it like sugar, flour, and baking soda. On the cake there will be butterflies, green grass frosting, a sun and pink flowers for the butterflies to land on. It will also say "Love". Statues of Ben and I will be standing in the grass frosting.

Whoever catches my flowers will get to be married next!!!"

Is that not the most precious thing you have ever read?! What a great reminder what a dream it is to do what I do!

~Jodi

A New Addition to our Team!

I am so excited to make this wonderful announcement! As many of you know, we launched a letterpress company not too long ago called Gwyneth Paige {Couture Letterpress}. You may also know that this company has an amazing Creative Director by the name of Andrea Reynolds. What you may not know is that Andrea has been holding down a 'day job' while also working for Gwyneth Paige.

I'm so excited to report that we've seen such amazing response to our letterpress company that I've offered Andrea a full-time position! She has resigned from her day job and now devotes 50+ hours per week to Gwyneth Paige. In addition, she will also handle the social media, public relations and marketing strategy for In Any Event. {But that won't start until after NSS!}

Please join me in welcoming Andrea to our little family! She's an amazing individual who's wildly talented and completely wonderful!

~Jodi

Internship Opportunity

For the first time ever, In Any Event will be accepting resumes for a summer internship! We're looking for one individual interested in working two days per week in our office. This position will be unpaid but the right candidate will gain a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in the luxury wedding and social event planning field. This individual will also get hands-on experience working on a luxury event during the month of June.

The right person for this position will assist in the day-to-day operations of both In Any Event as well as our sister company, Gwyneth Paige {couture letterpress}. This individual will work directly with and report to my personal assistant, Jillian.

If your are passionate, hard working, accurate and willing to do what it takes to get the job done, please send us your resume. Resumes will be accepted until Friday, May 14, 2010. We will then review each one and call individuals in for an interview. We would like to have our new intern to begin working the week of June 1, 2010.

Please send {do not email} a cover letter and your resume to:

In Any Event by Jodi Bos, LLC
P.O. Box 2352
Grand Rapids, MI 49501
Attn: Jodi Bos

~Jodi