ARE YOU READY TO TALK WITH ENGAGED COUPLES? I am offering 50% OFF my proposal creation course. Use coupon code PROPOSAL. I hosted a webinar last month which focused on how to make connections with potential couples and make them convinced about hiring you as their planner from the first call. One of the key points that resonated with a lot of planners in attendance was the importance of having a proposal that represents your brand and clearly articulates your services to an interested client.

Photo by Dotun Ayodeji

I shared my philosophy on the webinar; which is, only share your proposal with a client after a consultation. You can have the most amazing consultation but never forget that the couple might not be the only decision-makers they might still need to talk it over with their parents before making the decision. Sometimes you might have a consultation with just the bride and she still needs to speak to the groom about your services. You want your proposal to also have the...

Patience! That is such a strong word and it almost feels like when you hear someone say you need to be patient; it implies that your current state is opposite of that. As wedding planners and business owners, we work so hard on our business, and rightfully so we want to see our businesses succeed. Sometimes we put in so much work and when we do not see the results we get discouraged. 

I know exactly how it feels because for years I worked on my wedding planning business and I did not see the results as quickly as I wanted them to come. When I look back now over the last 10 years, I can see how each step led to the other and how certain experiences had to happen to empower me and propel me for the next.

Unfortunately, the need for speed is fueled by social media and we now have access to see what everyone else is doing and this breeds this unhealthy comparison culture where you think you are not making progress. I bring you some news today my people, Patience is part of the...

Hi people, Happy New Month. It has been a  busy past few weeks here on RAE Moments and I have you to thank for that. I say it all that time that I love getting feedback because it helps me serve you better. I have been working hard over the last month on some of the feedback to ensure that I am more engaged with you weekly via email and also on social media. If you are not already doing so, please follow me on social media @raemoments. 

The last blog post was focused on building real collections with clients. The webinar I hosted on this topic was great. Some of the questions I received after the survey had an underlining theme, which was the question about "how to build and manage a relationship with vendors." I seem to get this question a lot so I decided to start a new series on Instagram live called "Moments With Vendors." 

Moments With Vendors is a series where wedding vendors discuss with planners on how to engage and build strong vendor...

There is something wonderful about coming into your own. It is like a beautiful melody that feels right with every tune. When the tune is paired with the perfect lyric; the moment when each word sits in place and surrenders to the tune in a way that says they are mean to be. Sometimes, in fact, it is accidental, sometimes it is a case of trial and error and then success......no matter how you get there, we all have a time when it all starts to align and we notice that truly "I am coming into my own."

Photo Credit: Dotun Ayodeji 

One of the misconceptions about the idea of "coming into your own" is that you have to wait for the stars to align; you have to wait for the perfect moments to come to life before you can access this phase of your life. Right?.....Wrong! I truly believe that you have the responsibility of coming into your own. This is when you take charge and responsibility for your actions and you choose the path that isn't always the easiest but for the future gain...

We live in a time of a lot of exposure, from Instagram to Facebook, to Pinterest, and let me not forget my old and trusted friend google; there is so much more information clients have access to. There is an over-saturation of pictures and ideas and honestly most good planners have similar images. So, the question is what makes a couple select one planner in their area over the other? It is beyond the pretty pictures or the perfectly curated color-blocked page. It is all about a real connection. 

_{Picture by Quintessense Photography}

I have run my wedding planning company successfully for over 10 years and I can honestly tell you that one thing that has made a difference for me besides by client acquisition process is I focus on making real connections with every potential couple. When clients are shopping for a planner, they are looking for more than titles, skills, and credentials (although this is important, and you absolutely should have the skill to take on this important...

Success is when preparation meets opportunity-Zig Ziglar......so my question to you my people is when success comes knocking will you be prepared? 

Hi people, I hope you have taken some time to meditate on my question from the last blog post. I needed to pour myself a cut of tea while thinking about this question. I felt like it was screaming at me. Raise your hand if you felt the same way, hahaha trust me, we are all in this together. 

What is the significance of that question you wonder? For me, this question has become even more important in this season Covid19 where the fast pace of life has slowed down and we are facing a lot of uncertainty about what the postcovid19 world will look like. I don't know if I am alone, but I believe we will all be surrounded by new opportunities. Of course, things will be different, and we will all be affected but in the midst of the crisis there will be opportunities. 

The only way we can hit the sweet spot of success is if we are...

Hi people, Happy New Month. It has been a few weeks since I shared something with you. The very last post I shared, was about the importance of having a mindset to thrive in a season where others are trying to survive. So I decided to take my own advice "allow yourself to creatively grow and develop." I did just that by taking a break "to dig deep, and relentlessly seize the opportunities in front of me." 

The time off was necessary and I never in a million years thought that come May, we will still be in quarantine state........but here we are. One of the things this season has taught me the most is the importance of digging deeper. It is no lie when they say you never know what you are capable of until life requires you to know. 

I have learned that daily we are presented with options, some of which are glaring and others which are subtle but it takes us recognizing these random options as opportunities for us to rise to the challenge. Success is...

Hi people, I hope you are coping well in this season of Covid19. I started working on what I wanted to share with you this week and for a second I was stumped. Not because I don’t have tons of content, I have been itching to share but because the climate is so weird right now. In the spirit of full transparency, 70% of my events have been postponed to next year and I am like “wait what is going on?”

So, what is the most appropriate response in this moment for me, one word: THRIVE. I want you to be reminded that we are not created to merely survive but to “Thrive.” What does this mean in context to what is happening now? To thrive is to prosper, flourish, the Longman dictionary describes it as to enjoy or be successful in a particular situation, especially one that other people find difficult or unpleasant. 

One of the points I made in the webinar I had in January of 2020 “4 things you need to know before starting out as a wedding...

Hi people, Shile here reporting live from Covid-19 quarantine state day 8……….okay jokes aside it is officially day 8 since I have been home trying to adhere to the guidelines from the Maryland government about social distancing. Needless to say, these are interesting times indeed!

One of my mentees has all her events in the fall and I said to her “girl you are so lucky.” I, on the other hand, has been dealing with postponement plans and the effects it has on the clients. I have spent the last few days talking a lot with my event planner friends and other industry professionals and one thing that everyone is trying to do is take it a day at a time. One question on a lot of people’s minds is what to do now that you are home for the next couple of weeks. 

You know your girl; I am all about resting in times like this, but I also really think one thing we should all do is see this time as an opportunity to “RENEW OUR...

I hosted a webinar recently called “how to plan right when things go wrong” (a snippet of the webinar can be viewed in the clip above) ……. Well, little did I know how wrong things were about to get. The webinar was great and the main focus of it all was crisis management. As event professionals, we understand that crisis will happen and it’s all about how to approach it. 

Well, no one was prepared for the crisis of covid-19 and the impact it will have on the event industry until it happened and here we are right in the middle of it all. In full disclosure, I had one event cancel and three events get postponed in the month of April and we are yet to reschedule a new date because there is a lot of uncertainty regarding what will happen next.

The last point I mentioned in the webinar was to be flexible and improvise when a crisis occurs. This point has been so real over the last few days. Here are some tips on what to do with the crisis we are...