One of my favorite bridal shows takes place every year at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. It’s the San Francisco Wedding Fair, and it’s a great place to see the latest wedding ideas for high-end weddings and get inspired by some of the top wedding vendors in the San Francisco Bay Area. I”ll share some ideas and show some of the booths this week.

Floral and event designer Floramor Studios had a room with tabletop displays inspired today’s top female singers.

Above and below are photos of the table inspired by Katy Perry, fun and pink, with centerpieces of glass jars filled with candy.

The tabletop inspired by Fergie featured a centerpiece of a glass dome with stelleto heels.

The Jennifer Lopez table was silver and white.

with a stunning crystal beaded candelabra.

Beyonce inspired an elegant table of copper and white.

The Britney Spears table was both sexy and romantic, with it’s mirrored table and candelabra of crystals and pale rink roses.

And Lady Gaga inspired a huge single flower as a centerpiece and deep, rich-colored linens.

Where might you and your brides find inspiration?

On the season 5 premiere of “My Fair Wedding,” celebrity wedding planner, David Tutera, fulfilled a Make-A-Wish Foundation wish by a teen-aged boy, Ryan, who wanted David to go to Kansas to plan his mother’s wedding.

Within six days of arriving, David, with the help of his staff and many Make-a-Wish Foundation volunteers, was able to give the bride the wedding of her dreams.

The bride had originally had a theme which included 1000 origami cranes (symbols of happiness, peace and prosperity). She wanted a spiritual, peaceful feeling to her wedding and a decor that included weeping cherry blossoms and a long aisle with trees along the way.

David made her indoor venue look like a serene, organic outdoor space with pergolas,  trees and the cherry blossoms the she wanted.

Here are 5 of David’s tips for bringing the outdoors in that you might want to use for your brides:

1) Rent plants and trees rather than invest in additional flowers to transform a space and make it look more nature-inspired, they are also more affordable than flowers

2) David banded together both real and silk cherry blossoms when decorating the pergola to make the arrangements more lush (make sure you are using good quality silk flowers that look real)

3) For an evening wedding, add twinkle lights to the trees, accent foliage with uplights, and hang glass-enclosed candles from the tree branches (check to make sure the venue allows open flames)

4) Use trees along the aisle to define it and act as markers along the bridal path

5) Define sections in your venue with tress – separate the ceremony, cocktail and reception areas

Bringing the outdoors is in very popular today, especially since trees were brought into Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

In the video below are scenes from the show where you get to meet Ryan and his mother and see some of David’s designs. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mindy Weiss, wedding planner for many Hollywood celebrities such as Hillary Duff, Heidi Klum, and Kate Beckensale, shared tips for planning beautiful weddings in the September/October issue of the U.K. Edition of Brides magazine.

Here are tips she shared that may help you when working with your brides:

1) At her first meeting with brides, she asks them to tell her all about their wedding dreams

The brides Mindy works with are busy, so she asks them to tell her everything at their first meeting. By their second meeting, she gives them an idea of what their day will look like.

2) She makes sure the bride chooses her location carefully

Whether the space is indoors or outdoors, modern, vintage, or rustic, the venue will dictate the look and feel of the wedding. The bride should know what feeling she wants to create before selecting her site.

3) She pays close attention to table decorations

These are what guests will be looking at throughout most of the event. Mindy likes to mix a variety of vessels on a table, then she fills each of them with one variety of flower. She might put calla lilies in one vessel, peonies in a second, winterberries in another, then have all three on one table.

4) She believes white weddings are always in style

White can be done any time of year, on any budget, by any bride, even if it’s not her first wedding (Heidi Klum did it for her second marriage). To keep a white wedding from looking too flat or cold, Mindy suggests using accent colors in the flowers and centerpieces. She used blush and cream flowers at Hillary Duff’s white wedding.

You can read more white wedding tips from Mindy on the U.K. Brides magazine website.

Now that you are a wedding planner, you need to keep up with the trends in the industry. One simple way to do this is to read industry magazines such as Event Solutions which is published for event professionals. Their August/September 2011 issue happens to be their first wedding-themed issue. It’s filled with predictions on trends in weddings from some of the top wedding professionals in the country, including celebrity wedding planner, and star of the television show, “My Fair Wedding,” David Tutera.

Here are 5 of Tutera’s top 2012 trends that you might want to share with your brides:

1) Deep, Rich Colors

David predicts red and eggplant will be popular colors next year.

2) Personalization

David, and other wedding professionals, feel couples will be interested in finding ways to show their personalities on their big day. An example David cites is the getaway car that William and Kate used in their Royal wedding.

 3) Family Style Food Service

Rather than having waitstaff serve plated food, large platters of food will be placed on tables for guests to help themselves. This gives a wedding a more relaxed feeling.

4) Metallics

From centerpieces to cakes, wedding professionals agree with David that metallics will be everywhere in 2012.

5) Unique Juxtaposition

Weddings will have interesting combinations of styles that will surprise and please guests. Examples, filling a sparse venue with lush florals or decorating a beach location to look like a garden.

You can read the rest of David’s trends, get more information on wedding food and decor for 2012, and find tips on running your wedding planning business in the digital copy of Event Solutions.

Could you plan a wedding that included rats? That is what Tori and Dean did on last week’s episode of the Oxygen network show, “Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings.” Their bride and groom were ballroom dancers who wanted a Hollywood club style wedding in bright fuchsia with lots of sparkle, bling and feathers that included their pet rats, Sparkly and Butter.

Here is how they carried out the color and style of the wedding and included the rats. Your couple’s wedding doesn’t have to include rats to get inspiration from this wedding:

The ceremony took place on the rooftop of  The London West Hollywood. Fuchsia petals lined both sides of a carpet that was used as an aisle runner. We got to see Tori, Dean and their art director, James, struggle with getting the aisle runner straight – it’s nice to see that even celebrity wedding planners have stressful moments.

The rats entered the ceremony in a fuchsia cage on wheels that was pulled by two flower girls. The rats wore wedding attire that Tori designed and made herself.

Since the bride loved feathers, they were distributed to the guests to throw after the big kiss.

For the reception, the ballroom was washed in fuchsia lighting.

Since the couple were dancers, it was important that the dance floor be special. It had the monogram of the bride and groom and, of course, a silhouette of a rat.

The tables had the right amount of sparkle and color after Tori encouraged the groom to weigh in with his opinion. Had the bride made all the decisions, the tablecloths would have been covered with hot pink sequins. But Tori was concerned that the groom be able to express his desires, since it was his wedding also – something you need to do with your couples. 

Cookies are a fun favor or dessert at a wedding and you can incorporate the theme in the cookie, like these rat-decorated ones.

Of course, the toppers on the wedding cake were modeled after the couple’s pets.

On tonight’s episode, Tori and Dean plan a lovebird themed shabby chic wedding that will, no doubt, include real birds.

When new wedding planners come to me, I find that they often need help figuring out how to get all of their work done each day. They are unaccustomed to having the freedom of owning a business and don’t know how to structure their time.

If this sounds like you, here are 5 tips that I often offer that will help you accomplish more each day:

1) The first thing in the morning, take 10 minutes and write down what you intend to accomplish for the day

If you don’t have a plan, you will be spending a good part of the day trying to decide what to do next. I write a list of what I plan to do and cross each item off as I accomplish it. Don’t make the list too long, be realistic about how much time you need for each task.

2)  Don’t multi-task

Believe it or not, you can actually accomplish more in a shorter period of time if you allow yourself to focus on one task at a time. Don’t try to create a floor plan, blog and cook dinner all at the same time and definitely don’t text messages to brides, or anyone else, while you are driving.

3) Minimize interruptions

Let family and friends know when you can and cannot be available. Schedule your time on email, Facebook and Twitter instead of responding everytime a message appears.

4) Take breaks during the day

Schedule breaks between some of your tasks. Make it a point to eat lunch, take a walk or at least step away from your work for a few minutes. You’ll often find it easier to focus after a break.

5) Evaluate your day

At the end of your day, look at your plan and see how well you followed it. If you were not able to complete all of your tasks, determine if it was because you allowed yourself to lose focus or because you over booked yourself, then decide how you will do things differently tomorrow.

Are you using a contract with your brides that was specially created by an attorney for you and your wedding planning business? Or did you find one on the Internet or in a book then “edited” it yourself? Or are you afraid to use one because you think it might scare brides away?

I receive emails every month from new planners telling me about problems they have collecting money or situations in which they were treated unfairly by a client. All of them tell me they did not have their client sign a contract or they used something they found on the Internet.

Most brides expect to sign a contact with a wedding planner. In fact, if you don’t have them sign a contract, they may be concerned that you are not a true professional and they certainly will know that you are inexperienced.

When you use a contract you have found on the Internet or in a book, you may be using one that was not even created for a wedding planner. It may be out-of-date,  have information that does not pertain to the laws in your state, and certainly will not be relevant to your individual business.

 The services you provide and the amount of money you will be paid for those services should be spelled out in the contract, along with your policies regarding changes, cancellations and methods of payment. You can get ideas about what to put into your contract from the Internet, books or other people, but you must work with an attorney and create one that works for you and the service that you offer.

In a recent email, a wedding planner, working with her first client, based her fees on the wedding budget and wrote it into her contract. The budget doubled, thus doubling her work, but her contract didn’t allow her to increase her fee. Another new planner had problems with a client who wanted her money back after the wedding, she did have a contract.

Do not let these things happen to you! Protect yourself by investing the time and money it takes to get a contract written for your business.

In my last blog post, I wrote about the cultural details that celebrity wedding planner David Tutera used in his design of the ethnic themed wedding for his belly dancing bride.

One additional and important element you must use when planning ethnic themed weddings for your brides is food.

Ethnic food, along with the colors, costumes, flowers, decor and music will give guests the total experience of being in another land.

A bride who wants to serve ethnic food often chooses a reception venue that specializes in her cultural selections. However, she not longer needs to limit herself. Today, many hotels, and other venues that have in house caterers, understand that brides may want cultural dishes and are willing to allow outside catering.

Get to know the venues in your area so you can refer your brides to the ones who can accommodate their special requests.

In the video below, David presents his bride with the total cultural experience by serving kosher Middle Eastern food and bringing in belly dancers for entertainment.

 Are you helping a bride plan an ethnic themed wedding? One very popular example was the wedding that celebrity wedding planner David Tutera planned for the Belly Dancing bride on the recent season of WeTV’s “My Fair Wedding.” In the episode, the bride was Persian-Jewish and the groom Vietnamese-Chinese, who had converted to Judaism. They wanted to incorporate their personalities and the bride’s love of belly dancing.

David picked  5 elements of their cultures to use in the wedding design. Here are his tips along with a video of David planning the event:

1) Colors

The vibrant colors and textures of the Middle East were used in the tents, linens and flowers of the reception. Most cultures have colors that symbolize celebration, happiness or love that you can incorporate into the wedding.

2) Traditional Attire

Although a bride may select to wear a white wedding gown, her attendants can wear dresses from the culture or wear colors that represent it.

3) Flowers

Select flowers that are popular for the culture and in traditional colors.

4) Decor and Accessories

You can incorporate a touch of the culture in everything from the tablecards and menu cards to the centerpieces.

5) Music and Entertainment

Hire local musicians who can play traditional music from the culture but, unless the entire guest list is from the same culture, also see that a variety of popular music is played to entertain guests and get them to dance.

Do your research, talk to the bride and groom about the traditions they want to incorporate into their wedding.

Spring is a very popular time of year to have a wedding, especially in many warmer areas of this country, and other countries also. These places are where a garden or any outdoor wedding is impossible in the summer months because of  heat and humidity. I have had a few new and experienced wedding planners tell me that they are booked to plan weddings for next Spring – how exciting!

Here are a 3 things to remember if you are putting last minute touches on a current Spring wedding or have a client booked for next year:

1) It’s a great time for a bride to use an abundance of flowers

Many flowers are in season so they will be more affordable. Or a bride might want to have a garden wedding and take advantage of flowers and greenery in their natural environment.

 2) Plan for rain

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had of the worse rains of the year in the first week of Spring. If your bride has opted for an outdoor wedding, be sure to have a “Plan B” that includes an indoor wedding space or, at least, a tent.

3) Don’t make the bride feel she needs to stick to traditional Spring colors and decor

Spring colors are traditionally pastels in the colors of Easter eggs and lots of flowers. If these things don’t appeal to your bride, she should feel free to select what she wants. Use your knowledge and expertise to help her have the wedding of her dreams.

Celebrity wedding planner, David Tutera, star of the WEtv Show, “My Fair Wedding,”speaks below about Spring flowers. The clips in the video are from his work with a bride who wanted a Spring themed wedding.

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