It has been a few weeks since I posted.  At times, that creative spirit goes into overdrive and I could lock myself into the studio and create 24/7.  Lately, it’s been a mixture of creating new and exciting proposals for clients, actual designs for magazine editors, and a few designs for non-profit events.  In the past few months, I’ve created some of my best work ever for my clients, pushing myself to take it up a notch each time, to create designs that are personal, stunning, and meaningful.  I’ve finally achieved a long-time goal and got to create a tabletop for Grace Ormonde herself, which was very fulfilling – that will be it’s own separate post!  I’ve been surrounded by colorful swatches of linens, exposed to new and exciting flowers, learned from some amazing people.  I’m ready to create away this season, and am feeling absolutely exhilarated.  My clients get me, AND my art.  Each client, each experience, pushes me and inspires me as a designer, not only to constantly create something new, but to make it meaningful for my client and their experience.  It’s that passion to create something meaningful, something beautiful that inspires me.  And having found some new inspiration lately myself, I hope to use my passion and exhiliration to go even further with it every day.  Thank you for allowing me to create beauty in your lives.

It was such a pleasure to be a part of Wedding 360’s Academy of Planners and Designers (TAPD) a few weeks ago in San Francisco!  This last year has been a whirlwind of symposiums and conferences for me, and each of them has added something new and essential to my company and way of doing business. ( For a look at the Engage!09 Symposium’s, look up Bella’s blog posts about Engage09.

It was so fun reuniting with the hilarious Ali Philips from Chicago, and sweet Stephanie Frazier-Grimm from Newport, Rhode Island.  I first met these two amazing planners at Engage, and we’ve formed a friendship that endures the long distance! Some great collaborations coming up!
Image by Orange Photography

Wedding 360’s gathering of wedding planners and event designers was fabulous – not only to hear some amazing speakers such as David Beahm and Tara Guerard of Soiree, but to also be surrounded by like-minded individuals from all across the country, many of who were willing to share everything from tips to sources.

As always it was incredible to hear Rebecca Grinnals and Sean Low speak, they are ever so inspiring and give me an incredible amount of motivation to get my business model the best it can be. Rebecca is  one of the smartest business people I have the pleasure to know, and for her to call me out in front of my peers and talk about  my business and what she liked about our website was an honor!

Overall, the greatest thing was hearing several amazing designers, from Tara Guerard, to David Beahm to Todd at Todd Events talk about their businesses; they are all very successful, yet not only came about it in entirely different ways, but even currently run their business in very different ways.  SO, lesson learned, there are more ways than one to be successful in this industry, and success can be defined in various ways!  How do you define success? For me, it is finding the right balance of work and family/play, and working with clients that I enjoy, and that enjoy me and my work.  To get to use my craft, to create and design my client’s special moments – what a blessing! I love nothing more than to be incredibly creative, taking my client as inspiration and creating an event beyond even their expectations!

Follow us over the next week as we share more pictures from the Wedding 360 Conference, all shot by Orange Photography!