{ source : Weddingmapper.com }

 
If so, then www.weddingmapper.com may be the ideal website for you

Simply enter your addresses, choose your icons to mark your ceremony & reception site, and watch your map get created. Simply download the image and place onto your map cards, and print! It’s that easy to make map inserts for your wedding invitations.

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

 
On November 24, 2010 at 7pm I’ll be online at the comfort of your computer – sharing with you tips and advice to help you plan for a hassle-free honeymoon. Afterall, your honeymoon is the highlight of planning your wedding and a chance for you two to catch your breath after a whirl-wind wedding day!

Visit the {Destinations} division website to register at http://destinations.nuanceoccasions.com/hassle-free-honeymoon/

Whether you plan to stay a little closer to home or want to experience a trip of a lifetime – you’ll learn tips to keep you on budget and help you determine the destination most suited to your honeymoon vision.

Space is limited – register now for this FREE webinar to be sure you get this timely advice to ensure you are well on your way to planning an unforgettable honeymoon! I’m looking forward to you joining me online!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Over the last month, you may have noticed the addition of the new website and over the coming months, you’ll see much more information on our blog about wonderful destinations for you to consider too!

 
What does that mean for you?
* Streamlined planning services from your wedding day right through to the end of your honeymoon!
* Single point of contact for assisting your wedding guests with their travel arrangements (air, hotel, rental cars, etc)
* Wedding weekend extravaganzas can be effortlessly be planned to include tours & excursions for your guests
* Hourly rate consultations are being offered to assist you to find the perfectly romantic or adventurous honeymoon destination
* Special planning rate offered for destination weddings abroad

Destination & Honeymoon Travel Newsletter
Get advice on incredible tips on traveling with your wedding dress, how to plan a wedding in a different country, and learn about exotic locations around the globe that make a perfect honeymoon or destination wedding location.
Sign up for our Destination Wedding newsletter now
Sign up for our Honeymoons newsletter now

Honeymoon & Destination Wedding Consultations
Spend an hour with wedding planner Jolyn to discover the perfect location in the world for you – and then receive a travel blueprint – for you to book online yourself, with your own travel agent, or book directly through Nuance Occasions.

Contact me to arrange your honeymoon or destination wedding consultation by phone or by email at: jolyn@wanderlovetravels.com

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

* Jolyn is an independent travel associate of Newwest Travel

Each venue and caterer has very different policies surrounding tastings, so you’ll want to be sure to check with your venue or caterer in advance about what their policy is.

Generally, tastings are only offered for plated menu service – sorry, if you are choosing a buffet option, tastings aren’t offered because it’s impossible to prepare small portions of each of the varied items for an appropriate tasting.

Tastings are usually offered within the 3 months prior to your wedding – close enough to ensure you can choose from the current menu, but still enough time to make changes or substitutions in your final menu.

Chocolate Mousse at Fairmont Newport, California - during ABC Wedding Planner Conference 2008

Here’s a couple tips to ensure you get the most of your tasting session:

• Schedule in Advance. Schedule your tasting a couple weeks in advance, to ensure your chef has time to order ingredients that may not be standardly in their kitchen (such as fresh seafood or unique dessert ingredients).
• Give Chef Some Freedom. Although you’ll pick the main entrees, allow chef to recommend the best seasonal vegetables and starch to be paired with each dish
• Share your thoughts. Be sure to share with the chef any of your thoughts (too much sauce, would prefer a different presentation, etc) but keep in mind your guests may not share the same opinion. Your ultimate goal is to select a menu you’ll love, but will also be widely accepted by your guests.
• Seek Professional Guidance. If you love all the options and can’t decide which salad to serve, ask your Chef for recommendations about what will pair well with the rest of your meal selections. Don’t hesitate to ask your Chef for their wine recommendation for your meal pairing as well.
• Enjoy the experience. Enjoy becoming familiar with the taste, smell, visual presentation and personal care and attention your Chef will put into helping you plan the most perfect wedding meal.

You don’t want to rush yourself – so make sure you plan to spend approx. 2-3 hours at your venue meal tasting. Take notes, and while your meal is still fresh in your mind, make your final menu selections and pass them along to your venue or catering coordinator.

My couples love the menu tasting when it comes along on their planning tasks to complete. I hope you have the same experience at yours!

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

To avoid such frustrations for our couples, our Nuance Occasions team reviews our upcoming weddings, we review the Edmonton Festival Schedule to begin planning for contingencies as needed.

{Festival Route Change}
In summer 2009, one of our high profile weddings of the year, was scheduled during the Cariwest Festival – generally not a big deal, because the parade route was over a block away from our downtown location, but at last minute the festival route changed, and we found ourselves, our wedding vendors and wedding guests, unable to get to the ceremony & reception site!

{Solution}
As soon as our team became aware of the situation, we contacted the venue to find out if there was any way into the venue – their parking attendants were able to advise us of a back route that would bring us in, in the wrong direction, into their one-way driveway. Once on-site to assess the traffic and parking situation, all vendors were contacted and advised of the necessary alternate route, while the venue parking attendants monitored traffic and allowed for the vendors to park in their front drive during the festival.

The limo drivers for the wedding party and family were advised to stay away for a bit longer, allowing more time for guests to arrive and get dropped off through the front entrance. The vendors (officiant, ceremony musicians and photographers) were thankful for our intervention to quickly ensure they could get access to the venue, which otherwise would have caused extensive delay!

* * * * *
Make sure to do your research before your wedding day to become familiar with what other festivities may be happening around you and make backup plans as necessary to manage traffic, parking, access and crowd issues that may arise…our team will once again be diligently going over the upcoming festival schedule to determine how we can minimize their impact on our couples’ wedding days.

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.486.5310 ext.1

From the comfort of your computer, learn how to plan your wedding from Edmonton’s best wedding vendors. Online seminars that allow to interact and ask your wedding questions. Ideas to take your wedding from good to great! Tips to make the planning so much easier!

It’s all coming to the Engaged Soiree online wedding show, on January 31, 2010 – and the best part, it’s FREE for you to participate. Register online now at: www.engagedsoiree.com

Space is limited. Advance registration is required.

** PS. Don’t forget to check out all the other sessions they’ll be adding for couples – monthly educational sessions, and volunteer activities for engaged couples to participate in as a group – the first one is coming up for Dec. 6 – Santa’s Anonymous Wrapping!!

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.486.5310 ext.1

Wedding Wire iPhone App

I love that new tools are coming out regularly to help make wedding planning easier for couples.

Wedding Wire now has it’s very own iPhone application which allows you to research local vendors (including Edmonton wedding professionals), utilize planning checklists, and keep track of your wedding budget at your finger tips.

And best of all, the Wedding Wire iPhone App is always FREE!

You can download the app from Wedding Wire now!

Have you found some other great technical tools to help plan your wedding? If so, please share the details in the comments section below – love to hear about new wedding innovations!

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.486.5310 ext.1

{ time to carve your jack o'lantern this year }

He gets most of his templates from: www.zombiepumpkins.com

Happy Halloween!

So, what are you carving this year?

Jolyn | Lifestyle Party Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Keep your Plans Organized
If you are planning from afar, you’ll have a lot of email communications to keep straight. With Nuance Occasions, all our couples get an online workroom…it allows them to post their thoughts, inspiration photos to us, and allows us to post thier contracts, timelines, checklists, & updated vendor payments in one spot for them to access from any computer at any time.

“We loved how Nuance Occasions were opened to listening to any ideas we had and helping us to make better decisions! The online workroom was a huge asset, since we were planning our wedding in Edmonton from California” ~ Mackenzie & Joshua (August 2009)

Although our online workrooms are popular for all our couples – it’s our out of town couples that really appreciate this system for keeping up to date on their wedding and planning details – across the time zones, sharing of ideas & new developments happen around the clock – effortlessly!

Plan your Trips Wisely
If at all possible, schedule a couple trips to your wedding city – but plan them well in advance. When our couples come into town for a week, we usually try to schedule two days as wedding days – and fit as many of the vendor appointments and meetings into those days. We know you have other people to visit or things to do in our region and want you to enjoy all your time near, and not drown you in wedding plans.

Get a Wedding Planner
A wedding planner in the region will be familiar with the average costs, legalities regarding your event (insurance, alcohol policies, marriage requirements, etc), and most importantly save you research time. We often are visiting vendors, taking pictures or getting swatches and sending the info back to our couples for review until we have details just right.

Planning a wedding from afar is a bit challenging, but all the challenges are easily overcome with the use of technology and some professional support!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Effective immediately, I am able to do video consults with Nuance Occasions couples (or even prospective couples) through the use of Skype
technology. This free software allows you to communicate with Nuance Occasions through your computer and webcam, allowing us a face-to-face meeting, despite the distance.

I am excited about how this technology will benefit my out of town couples in meetings, where I can still show you some resources and items while we chat – and not have you waste precious long distance fees or cellular fees when we chat.

I look forward to new technology advances being utilized with our business in the new year…these advances help all of us communicate more effectively and stay in touch despite the distance.

So if you are on skype and a current client – add my id: jolyn.saramaga

If you are a prospective client and would like to schedule a skype video meeting, email me at info@nuanceoccasions.com to set up a video call time.

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions