Weddingbee PRO

When we first thought up Weddingbee PRO, we thought it would be a great way to showcase the work of up and coming vendors, as well as give readers a behind the scenes look into the business side of the wedding industry.

Recently I’ve been thinking about what is and isn’t ok to post on PRO.  When a vendor posts about their original work, whether it’s photographs, invitations, or handmade crafts, they’re putting their work out there for the world to evaluate and appreciate.  Their talent speaks for itself.

We’ve always been extremely careful about not allowing self-promotion on Weddingbee with Bees that eventually start their own wedding businesses, since Weddingbee’s focus is on real brides and their planning journeys.  But Weddingbee PRO is different since the focus of the site is wedding businesses. So what do you think about PROS blogging about items they sell, bridal shows they participate in, and workshops they conduct?  Do you think we should showcase those kind of posts on Weddingbee PRO?

Please let us know what you think!

I’ve known that New York based Laura Nadeau was a talented makeup artist since she did the stunning wedding day makeup of one of our very first Bees — Mrs. Firefly!

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Laura, but now that she’s a PRO, I’ll have to get together with her and Punam!  Laura will be popping in later today to introduce herself, so please give her a super warm Bee welcome!

I had a bunch of meetings on a business trip out to Los Angeles last month, and I realized that I had absolutely nothing to wear.  Because the last four years of my life have been spent working at home alone, my wardrobe completely reflected that (read: pajamas and loungewear). It didn’t really help that I’m an introverted homebody and wear jeans everywhere like they’re going out of style.

When you work in a creative profession like weddings, or any creative profession for that matter, people expect you to dress a certain way.  As Weddingbee grows, I’ve found myself taking more meetings, attending more functions, and speaking at more events.  But my wardrobe didn’t reflect that change, and having recently turned 30, I realized it was time for a makeover. Luckily I have a friend, Amy Salinger, who’s a fabulous fashion stylist, so I gave her a call.  

Step 1 is to clean out your closet and assess what you have and can work with.  Amy came over last Friday and we went through every article of clothing, pair of shoes, accessory, and handbag I own.  

Amy laying my jewelry out on my bed
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I woke up at 7:20 this morning after one hour of sleep to attend the special wedding edition of the Martha Stewart Show with Kim.  Now my sleeping schedule is messed up, but it was definitely worth it! I’ve been to the taping several times in the past, but this was my favorite to date because it was the weddings show… and I was sitting in the front row!

I dream of having a kitchen this beautiful one day!

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I think most vendors that participate on wedding blogs and boards have good intentions and are just trying to get their names out there, but don’t know what is and isn’t ok.  So this post is for vendors pondering that very same question.  

I thought we’d start with a few examples of what not to do.

This is a spam comment that we deleted today.  This vendor left several variations of this comment on threads where brides were looking for wedding dresses:

Would you like the opportunity to work with a designer who takes pride in her work first hand?  Well look no further because Ines Di Santo’s collection is definitely a must see for those brides who love either the sexy slender look or a full ballgown with just an edge of sophistication without being overwhelming. 

Call today to make your appointment now at:

Bridal Store
123 New York Avenue
New York, New York 11111
www.spam.com 

The following is a deleted thread started by a photographer.  It’s also the most common type of comment vendors leave in response to brides looking for specific services or products. 

try my site and if you don’t live near me I can travel!  I also give prices and packages that can give you a feel for what photographers charge.
 
www.photographer.com

If I’m not available for your wedding or you just have questions about what to look for in a wedding Photographer/photojournalist please just give me an email.

Cheers, johndoe
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… I learned from Weddingbee!

I think proper spelling and grammar is especially important when you’re a business professional, so I thought I’d write a post about it. Here is a list of the ten most common mistakes I come across on wedding and vendor blogs:  

1) its vs it’s - It’s is not a possessive form, and always means it is.

2) You’re vs. your - You’re means you are and your is the possessive form of you.

3) Misuse of apostrophes to indicate possessives - Sometimes they’re left out, and sometimes they’re used when they’re not required.

4) Palette vs. palate - A color palette is different from having a refined taste palate.

5) Peek vs. peak vs. pique- To give someone a sneak peek vs. reaching the peak of a mountain vs. to pique someone’s interest.

6) i.e. vs. e.g. - i.e. means “in other words” and e.g. means “for example”.  Most people use i.e. when they should use e.g. (I was totally guilty of this one!)

7) Compliment vs. complement - To pay someone a nice compliment is different from colors that complement each other.
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I recently blogged about my typical weekday, so I thought I’d share my typical weekend too!

11:30 am - Wake up and check out my usual sites.

11:50 - 1:30 pm - Walk to gym, kickbox, shower.  I love working out on the weekends because I have more time, and I love kickboxing.

1:30 - 2:30 pm - Write a post for Weddingbee

2:30 - 3:30 pm - Have brunch in the West Village with Mr. Bee (although we haven’t been doing this much lately).

3:30 - 5:30 pm - Run errands, clean the apartment.

5:30 - 6:30 pm - Edit pictures and write a post for my personal blog.  I’d blog on there every single day if I had the time — it’s something I truly enjoy, and the more often I blog, the more ideas I have.

6:30 pm - 3:30 am - Write more posts for Weddingbee and Weddingbee PRO, and catch up on all the work I didn’t get to during the week.  

3:30 - 4:30 am - Watch Hulu and fall asleep.

Mr. Bee usually gets home really late when he goes into the office on the weekends (he has his own company), so I work until he gets home. We do take time off here and there to do something fun, or to socialize with friends, but this is pretty much what most weekends are like.  I know it may sound pretty grueling, but Weddingbee is kinda like a start-up, and it requires a lot of hours and love behind the scenes.  I have to admit that it is addicting and so much fun to watch our traffic grow, and that’s what keeps me going.

I honestly love what I do, but with every job, there are certain aspects you have to do but don’t enjoy (like the hundreds of daily emails I’m horrible about responding to ). In my dream world, I’d focus solely on blogging and coming up with new features all day long. 

What is your typical weekend like?  What aspects of your job do you love and hate?

I apologize for not blogging yesterday!  I’ve made a commitment to blog daily on PRO, but yesterday was crazy busy and I was away from my desk all day.  But I’m back… with pictures of my newly revamped workspace!

I bought a cheap temporary desk from Ikea  when we first moved into our apartment, with the intention of taking my time to find something that I really loved.  Well 3 months later, it looked like this:

Don’t be too scared by the before picture.  This was taken after I was out of town for two weeks, so even though my desk is usually messy, it’s not this messy.

I wanted a beautiful, inspiring workspace, but knew that I’d never have the time to get it looking the way I wanted.  So I gave the fabulous wedding planner Kim Canale of Inspired Goodness a call, and asked her to redesign my workspace.  (She’s Weddingbee writer Mrs. Cupcake’s sister-in-law!)  Thankfully she wasn’t scared away by this picture I sent her, and came up with this:
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I admit that I’m a little bit of a control freak, and like things done a certain way.  I think that most people who run a small business can relate, because it’s your company and it’s so personal to you. When you run a small business, you wear many hats — CEO, secretary, janitor, pr, accountant, customer service…  At first, it’s probably out of necessity because you don’t have the budget to hire anyone.  So you become accustomed to doing everything yourself, the way you like it.  Over time, even when it may be in your means to hire someone, it becomes difficult to delegate and let go of certain responsibilities you’re used to controlling.

Something I had a difficult time letting go of was scheduling posts.  One little known behind the scenes secret is that our Bees don’t actually publish posts — we schedule all of them to go live at a specific time.  I had a lot of scheduling “rules” that were second nature to me, but were crazy to impose on anyone else.  For instance, if two posts in a row have text, the third has to have a picture to break it up.  If there’s a post that I know won’t get a strong response, I’ll sandwich it between two stronger posts.  I like to start the day off with a strong post, and end the day on a strong post.  I like to time posts to go live closer together during our peak traffic hours.

Some of these rules may make a lot of sense, but I have about… oh 25 more I could name off the top of my head that might make you think I’m a little crazy.

Eventually Weddingbee grew to a point where I realized that I just couldn’t do everything by myself.  I was squandering my time on things I could easily delegate, when I should have been focusing on the most important aspect of the business — improving and growing it. Then at some point, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I was burned out, my spirit was breaking, and it just wasn’t fun anymore.
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