Most brides learn about wedding trends from bridal magazines, and as a wedding planner, you want’ll to know what they are learning. The current issue of Bridal Guide magazine offers 2012 trends for decor, flowers, food and beverage, and more.

Here are a some trends you’ll want to know:

Decor

1) The event designers the magazine interviewed see a return to formal black-tie ceremonies as the top trend for the new year.

2) Colors will be be classic, soft colors like pale pink, cream, and champagne.

3) Lighting will be from elaborate chandeliers, hanging from trees, if outdoors, or candelabras with long tapered candles.

Flowers

1) The peony will continue to be popular.

2) Centerpieces won’t be one arrangement, but a collection of vases of flowers and candles.

3) Groupings of succulents and herbs will also be popular centerpieces.

Food

1) Seasonal food will be very popular. Couples will select their menu shortly before the wedding so they order the freshest food.

2) Traditional, upscale food, like beef Wellington, will be the choice at many receptions.

3) Couples will want perfectly paired food and wine.

Beverages

1) Tasting stations that feature the couple’s favorite cocktails will be a big hit.

2) Signature cocktails will be made with unexpected liquors (such as elderberry) or garnishes (such as ginger).

3) Instead of regular ice cubes, servers will shave or cut ice as they serve beverages.

Favors

1) Edible is in, brides will choose small boxes of gourmet chocolates or mini cupcakes for their guests.

2) A candy station with bags guests can fill and take home will continue to be popular.

3) The breakfast snack will be a new favor. Guests leave for the night with a chic box full of bagels or donuts to enjoy in the next morning.

What do you think will be the top wedding trends for 2012?

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.

Weddings have changed a lot in the last few years due to the desire to create one-of-a-kind weddings that break age-old traditions and to the way technology has helped brides connect around the world.

The June 2011 issue of Brides magazine has an artilce that talks about today’s brides that will help you learn how to be better wedding planners to brides in their 20’s and 30’s.

Here is a look at today’s brides along with tips on how to use the information:

1) They use the Internet for information

Not news to us but once brides had to rely strictly on bridal magazines and shows to find out the latest trends and to get ideas. Today they read blogs (hopefully, yours), visit wedding websites and exchange information with brides all over the world in wedding discussion boards and forums.

(Tip – this means you need to be on the web providing the information that the brides in your niche would find to be the most valuable.)

2) They want it their way

Couples chose themes, colors and food that reflect who they are, their hobbies, interests and personalities. For the most part, they no longer strictly follow tradition.

(Tip – get out and learn about different cultures, food, drink, architecture and music. Read a wide variety of books and magazines. You want to be familiar and comfortable with the lifestyle and tastes of the brides in your niche.)

3) They choose unique venues

Weddings are no longer just in places of worship, banquet halls, country clubs and hotels. Couples are choosing to get married in places that reflect their interests.

(Tip – be prepared for requests for unique venues. Check local museums, amusement parks, universities, art galleries, stadiums, and planetariums as possible wedding venues.)

4) They’re holding same-sex weddings

With gay marriage legal in some states, couples are coming out and celebrating their love in big ways. The demand has been great enough that some wedding planners are specializing in helping gay couples tie the knot.

(Tip – you don’t have to be gay to help a couple plan a same-sex wedding but you do want to understand their needs and concerns before you decided to specialize.)

5) They have concerns about protecting the planet

Many couples today think carefully about the impact their wedding has on the environment. They reduce waste by emailing invitations, they hold their event in a place where guest don’t need to travel very far. They utilize local foods and flowers and they use recycled product whenever they can.

(Tip – there is a great deal of information available on holding “green weddings” and events. Even if your couples don’t go entirely “earth friendly” they may want to incorporate some practices into their weddings. So no matter what you niche, make sure you can answer questions about adding “green” elements to a wedding.)

6) They’re socially conscious

Couples may want guests to give charitable donations rather than accept lavish gifts. Or they may want to make a charitable donation in lieu of giving out favors.

(Tip – be aware of local charities so you have ideas for your brides. You might also want to suggest using OneHope Wine that donates half of their profits to charities or suggest donating to Wish Upon a Wedding, an organization that  provides weddings to couples facing terminal illness or other serious life-altering circumstances, regardless of sexual orientation.)

You can read more about what brides want in their weddings in the article in Brides magazine.

The Wedding Report, Inc. , a research company that tracks and forecasts wedding trends, released their 2010 report earlier this week.

They anticipate that couples will continue to want elegant events at a low cost, have smaller weddings with fewer guests, and select packaged services over a la carte. (If you think this is true for your niche, you’ll want to make sure you offer the packaged services that will meet their needs.)

They expect that there will be more June brides than normal because couples, hurt by the recession, who put off a June wedding this year, will be holding their weddings next summer.

You can find some additional information from the forecast free at The Wedding Report website. While you are at the site, check out some of the other information that you can access with a free membership and the reports you can obtain with a paid membership. If you find the information useful, you might want to invest in a membership for your business in 2010.

I often mention how you, as a wedding planner, need to have a blog and post frequently, at least 2 times a week if not more, to attract business and give potential clients an opportunity to get to know, like, and trust you, so they will hire you.

I get a lot of questions about blogging so I posted some here along with the answers:

How do I start a blog?

First you have to find a blogging provider.  Free ones are Blogger and WordPress.com.  They have templates and are easy to use, and you will probably be up and running in less than 30 minutes.  There are paid providers such as TypePad which give you more control over your site.  Or you can have a WordPress.org blog, which is what this blog is.  I downloaded free software but I pay a web hosting company a monthly fee to host it, similar to what I do with my websites.

The free blogs are very easy to use but you do not get as much flexibility and you don’t own your content. In other words, they can close down your site if they view you are doing something they don’t like, usually too much promotion or selling.  However, ff you aren’t very technical and absolutely need to start with a free service, you will be able to transfer blog posts from Blogger to a WordPress.org site.  I know because this blog started as a Blogger blog.

How do I find the time to blog?

It shouldn’t take you too long to compose a blog post.  They can to be short and quick and easy to read.  Schedule time on a regular basis to sit at your computer for 20 to 30 minutes and write a post or you can collect notes in a recorder or on paper during the day and just finish it when you get to your computer.

I usually have a list of things that I know I want to blog about.  Sometimes though, an idea will come to me while I’m walking my dog, driving, or reading a book or magazine.  In these cases I either jot down notes or speak them into a digital recorder that I carry and my post is ready to be finished when I get to my computer.

What do I blog about?

Write on topics that would interest the brides in your niche.  Get inspiration from magazines, wedding television shows, and the weddings that you plan.

If you need ideas to jump start your blogging, read my article, “7 Ideas for Blog Content” that I posted on my Wedding Planner Articles site.

Can I include information about my personal life?

It’s best to stick to information that is relevant to your business and your clients.  You can mention a little about your personal life to help your audience get to know you but keep very personal details out.  Remember what you are blogging will be read by your future clients.  Make sure you always appear professional.

If you haven’t started blogging yet, do it now.  It is an important part of marketing your business.

Let me know if you have more questions about blogging by posting a comment.

There has been much buzz this week that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, may be getting married this weekend.  It’s hard to say since, like the weddings of high profile entertainers, this one is being kept very secret.

But former President’s daughters and entertainers aren’t the only ones who demand privacy.  I have done events for people who are famous in their own industries, but are not household names, who wanted their events shrouded in secrecy. You may get the same type of clients so here are some tips, some from my own experiences and some from research, on how to keep wedding plans and the wedding itself secret:

1. Have them keep the guest list small.  The more people they invite, the harder it is to keep the event a secret.  My clients had less than 50 people.
2. It is not a good idea to send paper invitations since they can be intercepted. Invite people by phone or leave crucial information, such as the time and location, off of paper invitations and call people later with the details.
3. A good alternative is not telling guests it is a wedding.  In 2002, Julia Roberts invited friends to a 4th of July barbecue that turned out to be her wedding to Danny Moder.  Actress Kimberly Williams and country-western singer Brad Paisley told people it was a wedding rehearsal.  Kimberly surprised guests when she took off her coat and they saw she was wearing a wedding gown.  Britney Spears told guests it was an engagement party when she married Kevin Federline in 2004, in fact her mother and the entire wedding party didn’t know about the wedding until the last minute.
4. Hold the wedding indoors or under a tent, if it is outdoors, to avoid uninvited guests being able to see and photograph the event.  (This is what Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston did when they married in 2000.)
5. Don’t tell vendors the real names of your clients.  I placed orders and told vendors where and when to arrive but never revealed my client’s names.  All charges were billed to an assistant’s credit card.  You can ask vendors to sign a non-disclosure when they arrive, if necessary.  (In some cases you might need to shred your notes, that is what designers who handle celebrity wedding dresses often do.)
6. Collect cell phones and cameras, any types of recording devices, at the door.  (Singer Fergie banned cell phones at her January wedding to actor Josh Duhamel.)
7. Hire security to keep out unwanted guests.

Most importantly, be sure that don’t tell any of your family, friends, or associates whose wedding you are planning.

I’m fascinated by the TVLand Prime show, How’d You Get So Rich? in which Joan Rivers interviews multi-millionaires to find out how they became so rich and successful.  The information that they share about themselves can help in the quest to be successful and get the lifestyle we want, whether that is more money, more time off to be with family, or something else.

Here are some information I’ve learned along with tips on how to apply them:

Think Outside the Box

One woman started a cosmetic business, but instead doing what others do, which is try to create glamor make-up lines that sell at high-end department stores, she makes the makeup the military wears for camouflage.  She’s not written about in Vogue magazine but she does have a lucrative contract with the US Army and Marine Corps.

Tip – Don’t just aim for the high-end, elaborate weddings that you think can bring in the most money.  It could be that you need to target brides in your niche who are doing mid-priced weddings, you’ll get less money per wedding but you may bring in more income from a steady stream of weddings.

Go with Your Strengths

Millionaires found an area in which they excelled and concentrated on using it to make them money.

Tip – Don’t spend time and energy trying to strengthen your weakness, instead make the most of your strengths and hire or partner with people who can do things that you don’t do well.  For example, maybe you are good at working with clients and negotiating with vendors but not good at doing administrative work.  You might want to hire an someone to help you with only administrative work which frees you to work with clients.

Believe in Your Vision

Many millionaires found inspiration for their businesses during tough times in their lives.  They had grown up poor, got dumped for a younger woman, or were barely making minimum wage but they had visions of better lives, passion for their work, and they believed they could realize their dreams.

Tip – Unless you believe your dream of becoming a top wedding planner is possible and have a passion for this work, you won’t be driven to move forward in good times and bad.

Asked to help plan a vegan wedding and have visions of “hippies” in the park and boring, tasteless food?  That is an old stereotype.  Vegan weddings can be glamorous events with gourmet food.

First off, for anyone who may not know, a vegan doesn’t eat meat, eggs, dairy products and foods processed with animal products which includes some wines.  They also would not used products such as leather, fur or wool and anything tested on animals.

The current, May/June issue, of VegNews magazine highlights the weddings of eight vegan couples.  Some insights about vegan weddings that you can get from the article:

• In addition to being cruelty-free, vegan weddings are often also earth-friendly.  One couple used hand-picked organic wildflowers in second-hand vases as centerpieces.  Another gave away tree starts as wedding favors.

• Guests often have concerns about vegan food but an experienced caterer should be able to create gourmet food that follows a vegan diet.

• Vegan wedding cakes don’t have to be boring.  Couples had lavish vegan cakes of chocolate with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting, vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, pina colada cake with coconut butercream and much more.

You can find out more about vegan weddings at the VegNews website.

Have you been helping your bride mail her Save the Date cards or wedding invitations?  Don’t forget that US Postage rates go up on Monday, May 11.  If she has special wedding stamps she gave you to use, your mail must be sent out today or you will need to add postage to them on Monday.  Read my former post on mailing wedding invitations after May 11 for additional information.

Pick up wedding planning ideas for your brides from the wedding of  reality television stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.  Photographs and a description of the wedding are in the May 11, 2009 issue of Us Weekly magazine.  Here are some ideas you can “steal” for the weddings that you plan:

• Right before the wedding, a plane flew overhead trailing smoke that spelled out “Spencer Loves Heidi”.

• Flowers included cream and yellow daffodils, narcissus and calla lilies.

• Mode of transportation was a black Rolls-Royce Phantom.

• First reception – 150 guests, fun and hip, but also refined and classy with a DJ spinning tunes. Drink – peach margaritas.  Food -  passed appetizers, a five-tiered red-velvet cake layered with chocolate and raspberries. Heidi changed out of her Monique Lhuillier wedding gown  into a short white dress for this reception.

• Second reception (or after-party) – 25 guests.  Food was onion rings and sliders followed by a three-tiered wedding cake, frosted with white chocolate buttercream. Heidi wore a white Juicy Couture track suite with “Mrs. Pratt” embroidered on the back.

The wedding was filmed for the MTV program The Hills that will air on May 31, 2009.

Pick up the current issue of  Us to find out all of the details.