Today I have to indulge just a little, it’s been over two years since I started The Wedding Genie and I thought I would stop and reflect on what has been for me an outstanding couple of years.

I have been privileged to work with twenty couples at various stages of their weddings. A mix of services from Partial and Full Wedding Planning to On the Day Coordination and everywhere in between.

What a fantastic job where the people you work with are generally always happy and what you do really makes a difference to them.

I certainly have gained some fantastic experience from all types of weddings including a beautifully themed barn wedding, an asian wedding (two in fact in one!), country house weddings that were to die for, spectacular glamourous weddings taking place in two venues!!  One of my lovely brides from one of those days even has her ownWedding blog now. The other was filmed for The Great Cake Bake program on wedding TV. Oh and what about the Italian Wedding! I have done things that would never have occurred to me like giving advice on BBC Radio West Midlands, being filmed by Wedding TV, giving monthly expert wedding advice to Your West Midlands Wedding Magazine. I do love writing for them and for Wedding TV.

Along the way I have built up a team of professionals to die for, a phenomenal Genie Dream Team. All of them going the extra mile and providing a service second to none. I believe your wedding is all about the journey and you should enjoy it with the people you work with.

What’s the point of using a wedding planner if you can’t have fun and have time to enjoy the good stuff. Thanks to everyone I have worked with and their help for making our clients wedding day vision a reality. Busy people in demanding jobs just don’t have the time to research and organise their wedding. It really is great to be able to provide a service for these clients who want to enjoy the planning but all the tasks like finding venues, suppliers and visualising their ideas and inspirations to come to life can be done by me and a fantastic team.

Next year looks like a great year!! The Wedding Genie is doing their first civil partnership and I am just thrilled to bits about that. Two absolutely delightful ladies who are such fun to work with. I can’t give much away about the themes and styles of next years weddings but the blog will showcase them all they unfold.

I am particularly excited about my Bridal Workshops. Lovely couples come along and spend time with me learning the building blocks of wedding planning. They go home brimming with ideas and inspiration. These are going to be held next year in Hagley at Blue Door Bakery Studios. The dates will come out next week.

You can now hire various items such as garden games, an instamatic digital camera for your guest book and glassware from me.  I will come and dress your venue for you, great if you are on a budget. More about that early next year. I will be adding to the website so that you can see what there is available.

My Wedding Planning Genie Wizard is flying off the shelves, am so thrilled about that. Next year I am going to add a Wedding Journal, which you can use as your bible for all things wedding. It’s like having a piece of The Wedding Genie to advise you at home!  All in all exciting times ahead.

I just want to say a “Massive Thank You” to all the lovely couples I have worked with. It has been a pleasure to be part of your special day and to be so involved in your plans and ideas. I can’t wait to get started on the weddings for next year too. I am off now to visit Sarah at Blue Door Bakery so hopefully she will give me cake to celebrate!!

Until next time, happy planning.

Danielle the editor asked some of the planners in the midlands to contribute the specific areas of the day. I chatted about the finer details of the day. Here is my advice.

Intrigue your guests with the stationery

Your invites will the the first glimpse your friends and family get into your  wedding. Choose designs that show off your personality as a couple and give guests a taster of how the day will look. As there are so many designs out there, narrow down your choices by asking yourself if you want something traditional, formal, contemporary or vintage. I also like the idea of moving away from traditional etiquette and using words that suit your personalities instead. When buying online, be sure to order sample first so you can see the quality of the card, paper and workmanship.

Visit for florist with ideas

To get the most out of your visit to the florist, make sure you do a little preparation first. Take magazine cut-outs of flowers, bouquets and decor elements that you like so your florist gets an idea of your wedding theme and colour scheme. It’s also helpful for them to see the style of wedding dress you will be wearing so he or she can advise on the best bouquet to complement your look.

Consider thoughtful favours

I’m the first to admit that I love small personal details at a wedding and favours provide the perfect touch, should your budget allow. However, if you prefer to spend the money on another element of the reception that guests will enjoy, such as a candy buffet or another form of entertainment of example, then that is a good option too.

Keep it personal

Try to incorporate your hobbies, interests and quirks into the day. If you have something of a love affair with old movies for example – incorporate this into your theme. One of my recent couples received a beautiful painting from a close family member and they now plan to use if in their wedding stationery.

It really is all in the detail, your guests will notice the extra effort and time you put into making your day unique. It is not about the money you spend, it is how you spend it and the way in which you make people feel who come to your wedding.

Until next time, happy planning.

I am really pleased to be featured in The West Midlands Your Wedding Magazine again this month, June/July page 76. Each issue they cover a hot topic so this is our second. Check it out.

Question

We’re getting married next July and are planning a summer-inspired do. We’d like to spend most of the day outside in the grounds of our venue, but are having a marquee just in case the weather turns bad. Do you have any suggestions on how we can decorate the marquee to incorporate our theme in case it does rain?

My Answer

Firstly, having a back-up plan is case of inclement weather is definitely the right thing to do. You could try bringing the summer inside the marquee with a picnic theme – place mismatched vintage crockery on the tables, along with jars in various sizes and colours, filled with scented flowers like sweet peas.

Pastel hues will give the marquee a summer feel, so try light coloured table linen and name your tables after wild flowers such as bluebell and daisy. So our gues don’t miss out on the garden games, dedicate an area inside the marquee where you can play things like giant Jenga.

When it comes to seating, nothing say outdoors more than bales of hay. Cover them with blankets, or fill the area with beanbags and scatter cushions for a relaxed feel. Finally, finish the look with bunting – it’s inexpensive and will look great draped around the marquee.

If you have any burning questions you would like me to answer why not email me and I will post them on the blog.

Until next time, happy planning.

Question

My parents divorced when I was nine. My mum re-married, and I’ve always been closer to my stepfather than my biological dad. However, while I would prefer to have my stepfather walk me down the aisle, I’m worried this might upset my real dad. Is there any way I can have both of them by my side, or should I ask mum to walk me down the aisle instead?

Wedding Genie Says

Only you know the type of relationship you have with each father, but I do feel it is important to include them both to prevent any bad feeling throughout the planning and on the day. The good news is, most weddings break tradition in some way or another these days so I don’t see why your stepfather and your biological father can’t walk you down the aisle together. I’m sure they would both feel extremely proud to share the experience and it would mean a great deal to both of them. I guess over the years they have shared the milestones in your life many times, so this is just another for them to share in.

This solution gives you the best of both worlds, however if you’d like to do it differently, you could ask your stepfather to walk you down the aisle, and then have your biological dad at the front to “give you away” to the groom. Alternatively, you could have your stepfather walk you down the aisle, and then give your biological dad a role at the reception, such as a speech ora special father-daughter dance.

If you have had a similar experience I would love to hear how you dealt with it. Drop me a line I am always pleased to hear from you.

Until next time, happy planning.

Kerrang are running a fabulous charity called “Cash for Kids”. It’s new and the Wedding Genie along with a few of our friends are helping to raise awareness of the charity and we hope, lots of cash for them.

I asked Kirsty Lee, their Charity Manager to tell us a little about what they are doing.

“We aim to raise funds that are specifically for sick, neglected and underprivileged children, every penny raised is guaranteed to stay in the West Midlands giving our local children a better chance. We are a grant giving charity whose beneficiaries can be other registered children’s charities or individual cases, the only criteria that has to be met is that they are 0-18 years old.

Currently in the West Midlands there are 1,955 children on the at risk register as a result of neglect, children who are suffering life limiting illness’s, children who have lost parents and need the support and guidance to ensure they still reach potential, deprived children living in situations where they want to take their own lives and children who run away from home because they simply have no one they can trust and rely on. We want to not only raise money to help but also raise awareness of what is happening on our very own doorsteps.

Our local children have a right to be warm, healthy, fed, educated and shown the love and attention they deserve and as a society it is our responsibility to make this happen.”

The Details

You’ll have to agree it is a great cause and Kerrang have come up with a fabulous idea in which we can help. Well all you lovely brides to be can. Kerrang are running a competition called 7 Brides 7 days. Nearly everything is available for your wedding from the venue, photography, gorgeous stationery, a beautiful wedding dress, designer shoes, flowers and decor, fabulous transport, a hen party, entertainment for the civil service, reception and evening, and me to coordinate your whole day and a whole lot more! All that at Mal Maison Birmingham, one of the most sophisticated venues you can find.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply apply to take part by filling in the form on the Kerrang website, click here. We will then select 100 couples to come and take part in our Bridal Bootcamp, which is to be held at Malmaison, Birmingham on 20th March 2011 from 10am. Here you will be asked to participate in a number of tasks to see just how creative you can be! The 100 couples will be whittled down to just 7 during the course of the day, so you’ll need to impress us.

Once selected, the 7 couples will have 1 week running from 25th March to 1st April to fundraise as much money for Cash For Kids as they can (as long as it’s legal, you can do whatever you want!). At the end of the week, the couple who has raised the most money will be victorious and win the dream wedding which will take place on the 21st August 2011!!!

ENTER NOW HERE

Really looking forward to seeing you at Bootcamp!

Until next time, happy planning.

The Wedding Genie was approached by Wedding TV to see if one of our couples would like to take part in their Great Cake Bake show. Bev wanted a very authentic Caribbean wedding cake made of fruit soaked in rum just like her Mum made. We thought she would really benefit from the show as you get to choose the cake of your dreams, so after a few phone calls it was all sorted. Bev really put her heart and soul into the wedding day and made so many little touches to delight her guests. She really did deserve the cake of her dreams.

We had great fun on the day and the film crewe Rachael, the series producer and Rich, the camera man were just fantastic. I make an appearance half way through so super exciting for me, it was a smashing wedding to work on. I worked with Bev and Paul for about six months before the wedding. They wanted me to help them pull all their ideas together. We had a great night of inspiration when they booked a Genie for An Evening. They went on to book On The Day Coordination.

Bev is a very organised person and really wanted her wedding day to go exactly as she planned whilst having the time to enjoy every minute, without worrying about the details. Enter The Wedding Genie!  Their comments about our service were so lovely.

“We would recommend the Wedding Genie to any one getting married. Even if you are the best organiser for your wedding plans, remember you will not be able to oversee everything on the day of your wedding.

The wedding genie took care of all the suppliers, vendors decor on the day leaving us to have a stress free and enjoyable Wedding Day.When we got to our wedding reception everything we discussed with the wedding genie was in place. Just as we imagined and dreamed off.”

We will soon have the official photographs for the blog so pop back and check out what made Bev and Paul’s day so special. If you want to speak to us about your wedding day we would love to help you. Just give me a call or email it is always good to chat.

Until next time, happy planning.

In the meantime why not enter our competition that is running in The West Midlands Wedding Magazine. Enter before November 19th, click here and scroll down the page. Fill in the form and hey presto I hope to see you soon.

Learn everything you need to know to plan your perfect day. What’s hot what’s not,how to budget and stay on track, how to choose your venue, your style and theme, top tips for a stress free wedding day and much more. Take home a CD with everything you need to plan a fabulous wedding day. Includes a budget calculator, a guest management tool as well as the workshop. Perfect wedding planning utopia. What a great way to start the new year!

I am really excited here are some comments from our last workshop.

“It was invaluable. We felt it was very good value for money in terms of the information we received.”

“It was absolutely the most useful course!  We would recommend your workshop for all couples who are recently engaged and feel overwhelmed.”

“It covered the whole planning process and details in a lot more depth than we had anticipated – a really good thing!”

Until next time, happy planning.

We are very excited here at The Wedding Genie, we have been featured in the

Danielle the features editor, asked me to help with an article all about entertainment. Click on the link below for the full article.

West Midlands Your Wedding Entertainment Feature

If you would like to learn how to entertain your guests at your wedding why not book one of our Bridal Workshops. They are brand new, designed to teach you everything you need to know about creating your own perfect day. Call or email for a chat if you would like to know more.

Until next time, happy planning.

I would love to help you during the initial stages of your planning. Our Genie for An Evening is a great resource for couples getting started. Not only do we come to your house but we write up a wedding overview that describes your vision beautifully. Its full of tips and tricks, to do lists, websites for inspiration and its great tool to use during your planning process. Call me to find out more.

Until next time, happy planning.

This is taken directly from Save The Date Magazine:

When planning your big day we know that its a real comfort to hear other peoples stories who are in the same boat, finding out how they’re coping with the highs and lows, stresses and excitements on the lead up to their wedding day. So, with this in mind Save The Date began to hunt to find an engaged couple who were doing just that. We then came across the fantastic Julie Dawson of the Wedding Genie who spoke about a fabulous wedding she was helping to plan and organise for a lovely couple named Kelly and PJ.

So, at the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham Save the Date met with fabulous couple, to follow their journey right up the day itself… So, without further ado, your first dose of the loved up duo is to go right back to that first date and, of course, find out all about the amazing proposal.

It was Easter 2007 when Kelly checked her my space account to find a message from a guy called PJ (for those of you wondering, his full name is Peter James Ellis and yes, he is the wonderfully charming bloke who appeared in Big Brother, 2003 and still has that cheeky grin). A rather cheesy one liner message, Kelly did her research before accepting his proposal of a date…. and was impressed with her findings so decided to go for it.

On 20th April 2007, Kelly and PJ met for for their first date at Bank restaurant in Birmingham, several champagne cocktails later, the date was a great success and the rest, as they say is history.

Both hard workers, PJ a lawyer and Kelly a producer on Heart FM they spent as much time together as their busy schedules allowed; the holiday they had planned for August 2009 in Turkey was therefore just what the doctor ordered. Both being very close to their families, they were holidaying with PJ’s parents and decided to have a get together at Kelly’s parents the night before they jetted off. Whilst enjoying a few pre-holiday drinks, Kelly’s dad asked everyone if they would like to see Kelly’s recent 30th birthday party video whilst Kelly was quite reluctant. “I am not bothered dad can’t we watch it another time?”

A unanimous vote against her and the 30th birthday video began to play. With the family sitting comfortably, the party video keeping them all entertained, there seems to be a problem when the tape cuts off. With the whole family looking at each other rather bedazzled (apart fom Kelly’s parents of course, who PJ had met with a couple of weeks prior to ask their permission to marry their daughter and according to Kelly’s mum, although PJ was very nervous, he was “the perfect gentleman”), PJ suddenly appears on screen. He begins to speak and all Kelly can do is sit and watch whilst PJ himself delivers a beautifully romantic, funny and overall, amazingly thoughtful proposal. With kind words, an Adam Sandler rendition from the Wedding Singer and Kelly’s dad’s handy filming work, PJ asks Kelly to marry him. Whilst her immediate family look on with PJ waiting for her reply. Kelly herself choking back the tears manages a “YES”

Totally loved up, they jetted off to Turkey the following day for their holiday, and with help from an abundance of bridal magazines, got planning. And boy did they plan. On their return, they’d decided on a date, 9th May 2010 Kelly’s 31st birthday), a theme, bridesmaids and PJ’s best men, not man (he’s having three!).

So, on the the next steps – venue, photographer, dress, suits, flowers, entertainment, invitations, hymns… aaaahhhhh. Where’s a Wedding Genie when you need one? And then she arrived.

In the next edition of Save The Date we find out all about Kelly and PJ’s progress, including the incredible invitations, the fairytale venue and entertainment by a very talented X factor favourite…..

Phew!! a bit longer than my normal blog but so worth it. Can’t wait to see what happens next. As soon as I know you will too!! If you know any funny, romantic or great proposals why not let us know and we can share them. Call or contact us we will be delighted to hear from you. By the way we are still running our January offer so give us a call to see what we can do for you.

Until next time, happy planning.