Category: Tips, Tricks, Ideas

Find something interesting? Reblog with Typepad & Typepad Micro

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

If you've been looking for a good microblogging service, or if you already use something like Tumblr or Posterous, you might find this interesting, from SixApart, the makers of Typepad:

This morning we launched TypePad Micro. Micro is a free streamlined blog, powered by TypePad, and optimized for social media.

via everything.typepad.com

You can now microblog any Portland Wedding Coordinator content that you find interesting with your followers on your very own free Micro blogs. Or you can use a Micro blog to save clippings of stuff you find interesting on the web, and share it with your friends and fellow planning buddies. And when you see the "Reblog" button at the bottom of any Typepad blog post, you can easily add that link to your own Typepad Micro or regular blog.

Here are some other wedding and design bloggers on Typepad that you may enjoy: Sparkliatti, Ritzy Bee, The Bride's Cafe, Oh So Beautiful Paper, Always a Blogsmaid, Weddingistas, and Celebrity Wedding Buzz. So you can see, Portland Wedding Coordinator is in great company! (Did I miss anyone? Feel free to shout yourself out in the comments!)

Couples AND wedding professionals:  Are you using microblogging in any form to meet those blogging needs when you have those "in-between" posts that are too long for Facebook or Twitter, but not long enough to merit a "real" post on your main blog? Share your thoughts here.

Make it a White Friday instead, and set your wedding planning intentions

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Wait! Before you make one more Black Friday purchase, stop for a minute! If you're recently engaged and hoping to have your wedding in 2010, why not take a little time this holiday weekend to set your intentions around what's really important for your celebration? A little pre-planning before the plunge of wedding shopping can go a long way.

1. Have your families met yet? Ideally, your families will meet before the wedding day. FIgure out a way to make this happen if it hasn't already.

2. Have you set your budget yet? There are many budget planning tools online, or you can email me with the subject line "I read your 11/27 blog" and I'll send you the one I use for my full-service clients — free!

3. Have you started on your guest list? Your budget will give you an idea of how many guests you can have. It's not a perfect rule of thumb, but just to get you started, consider on the casual end (in the Portland, Oregon area), a budget of $50-100 per person; then, a more elaborate celebration will have a budget from $100-500 per person. Reducing your guest list is the easiest way to reduce your budget.

(Of course, all you really need is your intended and the witnesses, but these guidelines should work for anyone hoping to host a celebration with more than a dinner-party number of guests and some kind of food, drink, and entertainment.)

Another way to think about budget is to consider a favorite restaurant whose food you would love to have at your wedding. What did you pay per person the last time you went there on a date and had appetizers, dinner, and a few drinks? Take that number and double it (in order to budget 50% on catering and 50% on the other things like planning, venue rental, entertainment, documentation, printing, etc) and that can be a rough budget for you.

4. Have you discussed your shared vision with your fiance(e)? On The 2000 Dollar Wedding Blog, Sara Cotner discusses how she and her fiance "started with the end in mind". No matter what your wedding budget might be, this is great advice.

So take a few moments during this holiday weekend to be thankful for this exciting time, and to set your intentions and get your wedding planning started right. Who knows–maybe eliminating one Black Friday impulse purchase will allow you to get something you really hoped for for the wedding.

From Oregon Bride Magazine – “The cutest wedding favors” – A Loterìa-inspired wedding favor

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Did you catch our feature in the most recent Oregon Bride Magazine? We were asked to put together a unique favor with uniquely Northwestern local ingredients and design. Working with Roopal Shah of 1st Comes Love, we had a ton of fun creating this Loteria-inspired wedding favor with a tattoo/rock-n-roll twist.

Chocolate-wedding-favor-heart

“Put a spin on the usual symbol of love with these chocolates in the shape of a bleeding heart, brushed in 23K gold leaf from Alma Chocolate. The Mexican Loteria design spices up the 100% recyclable package. Produced by Emee Pumarega of EJP Events (503.284.6756; ejpevents.com); graphic design by Roopal Shah of 1st Comes Love. $14 each; $5 with less expensive Alma truffles. (Photo by Jeremy Dunham)”

via www.orbridemag.com

Email etiquette tip: the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
photo of laptop on a table, next to a vase of flowers
Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

Here’s an email etiquette tip some may not know: when you CC: (Carbon Copy) an email to a list of unrelated contacts from your regular account for a group or “blast” email, it’s considered to be poor etiquette. This is because all who receive the email will then be able to view each other’s private email addresses. Your contacts may or may not wish to have their personal or work email broadcast far and wide, and it’s safer to assume that they would rather not.

Next time, use the “BCC:” (Blind Carbon Copy) function to send an email like this. Put your own email address in the TO: field, which  sends it to yourself. Put the list of email addresses that you’re sending to in the BCC: field to keep everyone’s email private.

Technorati short code: 6PRGAEPTKZCY

Updated 9/17/2020 by Emee Pumarega

The 25-year rule

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

25-years-from-now-older-couple-wedding-marriage

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayugee/CC BY-ND 2.0

As we get into the early part of the wedding planning process for many of this year’s upcoming clients, we often hear the question:

“Do I really need to…(insert X, Y, or Z element here)?” This may relate to a a vendor decision (to have a videographer or not?) or a tradition decision (to see each other before the wedding ceremony or not), or maybe a design decision (to rent those chivari chairs or not).

Thing is, no wedding planner or magazine or blog can truly help you answer these dilemmas until you’ve explored your own feelings. One method I recommend is what I’ve been calling the “25-year rule“. How will you feel about this decision 25 years from now? When you look back at your wedding album, when you celebrate your silver anniversary, will you say to yourself, “I wish I had ____________, after all”?

Continue reading “The 25-year rule” →

To automate or not to automate?

Posted on by Emee Pumarega


(Image thanks to D’Arcy Norman via Flickr.com

With the escalating popularity of social media sites, I hear a lot of advice, especially in the wedding and event biz, about automating your social media feed.
This can consist of pre-scheduling tweets on Twitter, or scheduling blog posts in advance, or linking accounts with ping.fm or other services, so one status update can show across several services, just to name a very few. Many of these services are great timesavers and used wisely, can make the task of social media for business more of a pleasure.
However, I would caution business owners to remember the “social” aspect of social media. Those whose only contribution to Twitter is the RSS feed of their blog, for example, run the risk of looking like they’re only in it for themselves. Especially when said blog is simply a roster of products or services for sale and contains little real advice or education for prospective readers. If you’re wondering why you have few followers, no blog comments, low blog stats, and little interaction, take a hard look at what you’re putting out there and ask yourself, “Is this interesting to the type of people I’d like to interact with, and is it worth a response?”
Whether you choose to automate or not, make sure you keep the social in social media by interacting, reposting/retweeting, and assisting; the same as any good business owner would do in non-online life.