The Thing About Creative Vulnerability

There's a hard lesson that we all learn when it comes to creativity - that of vulnerability and integrity. I remember the first time I created a calligraphy piece for someone and they were upset with the end result. I was SHOCKED. I have so many pictures of my work on my website and my Etsy shop that it shouldn't be a surprise when I create an order with my signature whimsical style. It hurt. Why wasn't my work good enough for them? They chose me for a reason - was it just because I was the least expensive? Because they couldn't find anyone else? Because I was the only one that could (and would) accommodate their slightly ridiculous demands? 

I've been doing this thing for a little while now, and it still sucks when people ask me to change my style. I'm not talking about edits to what I create for them, but my actual style and taste. It happens in all aspects of my business - my calligraphy, my design work, my planning style, my blog, and even my writing.

I'm learning a lesson, still, about creative vulnerability and integrity. I don't know that I'll ever get to the point where it doesn't suck to be questioned and told that my work isn't good enough, but I do need to realize something. I'M good enough, and my work is good enough. They did hire me for a reason, you know. It just might not be right for them.

Accommodating  clients is just part of life, but that doesn't mean we need to sacrifice our creative integrity. If you have a vision, stand your ground. It's your vision and you need to learn to trust your instincts. If you don't, you'll never realize your creative potential because you're constantly questioning yourself and imitating others' work rather than discovering your own. Now if I could only take this lesson to heart. 

Ask Me Anything v.1

A few weeks ago I let you all know that I'm going to start an Ask Me Anything series, and a few people sent in questions, mainly about wedding planning and blogging. Since I addressed the former in a fairly lengthy post a couple weeks ago, I thought maybe I would talk about blogging today! I do have a series called On Blogging, but I figured this would be a little bit of a different format. 

Photo by Anna Delores Photography

My very first question was sent to me by Sarah from 702 Park Project. She asked...

My question is how, as a new blogger, should I generate traffic to my blog? I use social media, and try to comment on other blogs regularly, but I was just wondering if you had any other ideas to throw out.

I think, for me, one of the most important qualities when blogging and interacting with other bloggers is sincerity. I think that commenting on other blogs is great, but it should never be used as a tool just to get traffic back to your own blog. That being said, if you expect other people to read your blog, you should probably take time out to read other blogs too, but never feel guilty because you can't read all the blogs in the world. There are a lot out there, and you can't expect everyone to read yours either. Instead, find ones that you really do love, leave genuine comments, and people will realize what a real and kind person you are. Maybe it's me being idealist, but that's my favorite way of networking in the blogging community.

I'm a firm believer in sponsoring other, not necessarily bigger, blogs as well. There are button swaps and giveaways that you can participate in, and I really think that it's just a matter of finding what works for you and your blog. As someone who does make a little money from her blog, I have to say, don't feel weird about giving a blogger money if you really like their work. We've spent years on our blogs and I think most of us love promoting other people and discovering new up and coming blogs. Definitely evaluate why you would want to sponsor a particular blog - does it match your values? Would your blog attract a similar readership?

But beyond all of that, the number one most important thing when trying to build your readership is CONTENT. Makes sense, right? You'd be surprised. But it's always going to come back to content. Do you have something valuable to say? It doesn't matter if it's about your life or your house or tutorials or recipes or whatever, YOU have to value the content of your blog in order for others to value it too. Is your content compelling? Do you have photos to back up your writing? Does your voice come through, and do readers have a reason to come back? If you put out good, valuable, interesting content, people will notice. I promise.

Okay, so that's that! My very first Ask Me Anything post! If you have a question, about anything of course, feel free to email me or leave a comment with your question and I'll be sure to answer it in an upcoming post. 

The Gap

I know what I'm about to share has been seen a lot in the blogging world, but it's still one of my favorite quotes ever. It's always an amazing feeling when someone else can put exactly what you're feeling into words. This is for those of you attempting to find your creative potential, for those of you who want to quit. Believe me, I've definitely considered quitting in the past. But I didn't.

It's not word-for-word, but you can see Ira Glass give this interview here.

The Realities of Being a Wedding Planner

Without fail, the response I get most often once people realize that I'm a wedding planner is along the lines of that's my dream job! I don't know why I get so irked about this, but I have to admit that I do. Now, let me give a few disclaimers before I get started on this post. 

1 // Wedding planning was my dream job at one point in my life, and still is, to an extent. 

2 // I love my job. I am thankful each and every day that I get to work for myself making pretty things and creating events that my clients love. 

3 // I am NOT planning on giving up on wedding planning. Not any time soon, at least.

4 // That being said, I never intended for wedding planning to be my life career. I do have a business plan laying around here somewhere, and it includes a lot of lofty ambitions and goals for both myself and my business that go beyond wedding planning. 

I love every one of my weddings, truly I do. This wedding party, photo by Jess Roy Photography, was SO much fun. Every time I look at this picture, I'm reminded of why I do what I do.

I've told my story a few times in the past, but I'll give you an abbreviated version, for the sake of context. 

In 2010, I was a newlywed and completely miserable at my traditional nine-to-five. I was a technical writer for a software development company and needed a creative outlet. That's when I started my blog, Where We Love is Home. All of the sudden, I was exposed to this community of bloggers. Too often, the conversation is focused on people who want to be professional bloggers, but I see something beyond that. I've always seen blogging as a method to figure out what it is exactly that you want to do. For me, blogging has never been, and never will be, an end all.

My blog was a form of therapy for me, and in the process I discovered a world of young women who realized their creative potential because of their blogs. I'm talking about graphic designers, interior designers, and photographers who started their own businesses, and other women who have found their perfect jobs, because of their blogs. 

My story is kind of like every other wedding planner's story - I've always loved weddings and I just thought it would be a fun industry to get into. I had event planning experience in college, and I did work for others in the industry before starting my business. But if you want the truth - I had no idea what the hell I was doing at the time. 

I think maybe that's why it rubs me the wrong way when I see people attempting to start their own wedding planning business when they have absolutely no idea what they're getting themselves into, or why I cringe a little when people gush over my job when I tell them.

I have no doubt now that I'm good at what I do. I feel odd saying it, but I can be really good at what I do. But I never, ever, thought that I would get to where I am. And at one point, I was actually pretty terrible.

I once asked a planner and designer that I've always really admired what her advice would be to an aspiring planner. Her response? Blood, sweat, and tears. 

I get it now. 

If you want to know the truth...planning and design is not all sunshine and rainbows. I may love parts of my job, but believe me when I say that it's not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.

As the planner and coordinator, it's always our fault. I hate saying it because I have a feeling I'll get slack on that point, but it's true. It doesn't matter what vendor screwed up - if your photographer didn't get an important shot or the rental company didn't bring enough chairs or the fire alarm goes off because the band brought a smoke machine you didn't know about. It's always going to be the planner's fault. Actually, let me rephrase that - a good planner will more than likely take responsibility for it.

We're the ones who have to know every single detail about your wedding day. Your vendors will know bits and pieces, but we have to know everything. If something falls through the cracks, it's because we didn't realize it. It doesn't really matter if it was a last minute change or something that we didn't know was going to happen in the first place - we should have known. And unfortunately, for us, the client usually thinks that too. 

We are the catch all. I've cleaned toilets (true story - my assistant once had to pull a dead rat out of a toilet). I've had to singlehandedly set up a hundred chairs in fifteen minutes. I've cleaned up after guests, gotten on my hands and knees so I could fix dance floors, and gotten in some seriously sketchy (if not dangerous) situations, all for my brides and grooms. I'm usually on my feet for twelve to fourteen hours on a wedding day, and I'm lucky if I get a break at all. 

I don't mind it. Really. But here's the thing...in an effort to give our clients their perfect day, they rarely know those sordid details. A good planner doesn't brag to their clients about the things they did to make their day amazing. All that matters is that they did. But if something goes wrong and they notice? Well, that's when it's our fault - because they noticed. Because we couldn't fix it before it became a problem. 

We're dealing with people on what's probably the most emotional day of their lives. It's an honor to be able to celebrate with them, truly, but it doesn't mean that people are always the kindest when it comes to their wedding. They want their perfect day, and I get it! I do, which is why I've learned to just let things go. If you want to get far in this business, you have to learn how to let things go. You can't take everything personally - it's just the nature of people in general.

Recognize that beautiful blogger there? That would be the amazing Lauren of Pink on the Cheek, photo by Anna Delores Photography. It's that look, right there, that makes it all worth it for me.

I think the number one indicator of a successful small business would be the work that you're willing to put it. This is true for any small business, especially a creative small business, and it's very, very true in the world of wedding planning and design.

The thing that we don't tell you, however, is how creatively exhausted we are. Think about it this way -in a world where there are blogs constantly bombarding you with ideas and trends, we have to be one step ahead. The status quo is never going to be good enough for us. The second we see a trend on a blog or on social media, its over for us. We don't get to use that idea again. We're constantly trying to think of the next best thing, and half the time we don't even know if its even going to look good! We have to trust ourselves that what we're designing is going to be amazing, but it isn't always. 

I think that's why I kind of hole myself up sometimes, why there will be days that I'm completely MIA from social media. Partially so that I can find my energy again, and partially so that I can find my inspiration within myself. I love designing, more than I like planning, but it's infinitely more tiring than planning too. It makes you second guess yourself constantly. And you never know if you're even going to be relevant next week. 

I have a thousand more thoughts on what it's like to be a wedding planner, but I think I'll leave it at that. For now. I love my job, more than I ever thought I would love my job, but it's still a job. 

A Charming Business :: Realizing Your Value

I started my wedding planning and design business, A Charming Occasion, in the fall of 2011. Sometimes it feels like I just began this crazy adventure, and sometimes it feels like I've been working at it forever. Regardless of how long I've been doing it, however, I can tell you that I'm always learning. Always. 

Owning your own business isn't easy, I don't care what people tell you. It may come more naturally to some than others, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And I was hoping, if you don't mind, that I could start sharing some of the things that I've learned and realized along the way.

This is something that I constantly struggle with, even now, and I have a feeling that a lot of creative business owners will say the same. I think that it's entirely too common, in any industry, to question the value of your work.

I'm constantly doubting myself, wondering if my clients actually need me, or if my work really is good enough. There has to be someone out there who provides a better client experience and charges less than I do, right? Why would anyone book me when there are so many incredible wedding planners and designers in general? And not only that, but is what I do really that important? I get people trying to talk me down in price or negotiate my contract all the time, reasoning that a family member or friend can do what I do. It's hard not to believe them sometimes. 

All these things contribute to this deflated sense of self-importance, and it's really easy to get caught up in all of the doubts that like to creep in from time to time. I'm sure every single argument against the value of my work has some semblance of validity. But if I truly believed that what other people say is true, then why am I doing what I'm doing?

The thing is, not everyone may see the value of your work. That's just life. But owning a business requires passion, and having passion requires believing in yourself, no matter what anyone else tries to tell you. Because how can you expect other people to value your work, and hire you, if you don't value yourself?

On Blogging :: Blog Tools

I know that I've written posts like this in the past, but I have productivity ADD. I'm always, always looking for a way to streamline my processes and just make my life easier and more efficient. I've probably gone through at least a dozen different programs, project management and task lists and calendars, in the past two years, trying to figure out ways to be as organized as possible, in business and in life. 

I'm finally feeling good about where I am, which is making things a hell of a lot easier in general. It's so much easier to implement processes that are already established, than to build them from the ground up. I guess it's the curse of my background vs. my current position. I used to work in project management and documentation, and I've found that I actually brought a lot of what I learned in that position here. Wedding planning is a type of project management, I suppose, and planning and documenting things for my blog always makes me happy. 

So, here you go. A few of my favorite (current) blog tools and apps that I love to use. 

1 // SMARTSHEET. Sure, at a glance it's just another spreadsheet system, but Smartsheet is the best of the best. Seriously. The functionality available in this program is actually what I need for both my business and my blog. The best part? The forms, which allow clients/customers to enter their information into a web form and it transfers directly to the spreadsheet. Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know that Google Docs has this, but Smartsheet is about five steps above Google Docs. I can set reminders on rows, telling me when I should schedule client meetings according to my general wedding spreadsheet, and attach documents (from Google Drive) to specific items. Linking cells between sheets and their easy templates make Smartsheet one of my favorite discoveries of the past year.

2 // CREATIVE MARKET. I have a graphic problem, meaning I like to buy graphics and fonts and patterns, much more than I need. If you've ever wondered where I get these things from, it's all Creative Market. I sell my fonts on the site, and pretty much just use whatever I make from that platform to buy myself pretty things on the site. Warning: it's addicting.

3 // REDBOOTH. I've tried a lot of project and task management applications. Basecamp? Of course. Trello? Duh. Asana? Obviously. Redbooth (previously Teambox) is the only one that I've found that comprehensive enough in both functionality and ease of use. I mainly use Redbooth for wedding planning, since I can assign tasks to my team easily and efficiently, but I also like to use it as a task manager for my blog. They have a free base package that would be perfect for bloggers, so you should probably check it out.

4 // EVERNOTE. I know I'm not the first to claim Evernote as a lifesaver, and I definitely won't be the last. I use Evernote as a place to brain dump; if I have something formal to write, I put it in Word or Google Docs, but Evernote is a way for me to just spill my thoughts without having to worry about formatting or whatnot. I also use it as a note taking app; I pull it up when I have a phone call or meeting, and just tag my notes with clients or topics. It's easy to figure out, and free too!

5 // ELANCE. In my last post on blogging, I wrote how learning Photoshop has been a blogging game changer for me. It's the truth! Learning Photoshop has hands-down been one of the best things that I've done for my blog and my business, but it can also be a curse. When you know how to do design or coding or whatever, it's hard to bring yourself to pay someone else to do it for you. I've realized recently, however, that my time is really valuable. And that's where Elance came in. Sure, I can design my own pretty documents or create vectors out of my calligraphy, but that stuff is really time consuming. It was so easy for me to find someone on Elance that can just churn these projects out like nobody's business. I'm so thankful I took the plunge and started hiring out for small projects like that.

These are just a few of the tools that I use in my blog and in my business. Other programs and apps that I use include Google (gmail, calendar, drive, etc.), Freshbooks, PayPal, Hootsuite, Workflowy, and Pocket. What are your favorite blogging and business tools that you would recommend?

Product Styling + Photography Services

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE new projects. Put Emily and I together in a room and we come up with a thousand ideas that we just have to do right now. A few weeks ago we reached out to a few of our favorite stationery designers, asking them to send us a few items that we can style and photograph. It's so much fun for us, and they get some pretty pictures out of it for their portfolios too!

Anyway, I'm here to announce that Emily from Anna Delores Photography and I are now offering product styling and photography services! We love styling and photographing stationery, but we are available for anyone with a small business or handmade product that needs new, pretty pictures of their items. Some ideas include jewelry, wedding or home decor, accessories, or even food! 

If you're interested in working with Emily and I, you can check out more information in Emily's Etsy shop, or contact us. We're excited to hear from you!

Photography :: Anna Delores Photography // Stationery :: Lemon and Lavender // Styling :: A Charming Occasion

On Blogging :: Game Changers

As some of you know, I started this little blog here in the fall of 2010 with the name Where We Love is Home. Since then, my blogging journey has taken me places that I honestly never thought possible. Looking back, there are a few distinct steps that I took that took Something Charming to the next level. I was hoping I could share those things with you today.

In no particular order...

1 // I BOUGHT A CAMERA. In the summer of 2012, I decided it was time to upgrade the pictures on my blog from iPhone photos and images I found on Pinterest. I have a basic DSLR (a Canon Rebel T2i), one that isn't really all that impressive, but it's made the biggest different in the quality of images on my blog. Not only that, but I feel a lot more confident pushing out more original content, meaning more tutorials and recipes, since I have a camera to take nicer pictures with.

2 // I FOUND MY PERSONAL STYLE. It was sometime during 2012 that I also realized how much my personal style has evolved over the years. I proceeded to throw out the vast majority of my closet and built my wardrobe from the ground up, focusing on items that were innately me. By doing so I was able to discover my personal style even more, and made changes to my blog that reflected that style. 

3 // I LEARNED PHOTOSHOP. This is probably the single most important thing I did for my blog. I remember it well: it was January 1, 2011, and I wanted a new blog design. Before then I was just using one of the templates that came with Blogger, but I was over it. I sat down at our old desktop, and within a day, I taught myself Photoshop and basic HTML and CSS. Doing so has allowed me to create my own blog designs, as well as collages and graphics I use on Something Charming. 

4 // I JOINED TWITTER. Okay, so I was actually on Twitter long before I started my blog, but it was when I actually started engaging with people on Twitter that I saw my traffic and readership increase. Participating in social media is essential if you want to have a successful blog, but I truly believe that Twitter is the cornerstone to this. Instagram and Pinterest are great, of course, but Twitter is much more engaging. I've met some of my best "blog friends" on the platform, and it's a great way to interact with other people and push out your content. 

5 // I STARTED A CREATIVE BUSINESS. Now, I don't think this is essential to have a successful blog, but I do think that everyone should have some type of creative endeavor that they work toward. What I mean is that a blog isn't self-sustaining. You need content, whether it be outfit collages or book reviews or recipes or tutorials, or any number of things. I like to do a little bit of everything, but it wasn't until I started my creative business that I realized my potential as a creative human being. Every single day I'm challenged to think critically and to come up with new and exciting ideas. Owning a creative business means that I'm never stagnant, and my life is one big creative endeavor. It's pretty awesome.

These are just a few of the things that have helped bring my blog to the next level. I'd love to know what your thoughts are, or what you did to help your blog succeed!

{a fall flower workshop}

About a month and a half ago, I got an email from a (former) wedding designer that I really admire, letting me know that she was putting on a floral design workshop in Santa Barbara. I jumped at the chance, of course. Obviously I love flowers, but I also love networking and getting to know other talented people in this industry. 

I can't say that my arrangement was the best (it actually turned out to be more of a forest, if you ask me), but it was fun seeing what all these other people put together when they had the same tools and flowers to work with. All of our arrangements and tables were so different, and so fun!

 Thanks so much to Kelly Oshiro and Flutter Magazine for putting on this workshop, and to Joel Serrato for the photos!

{on blogging :: creative market}

One of the most frequently asked questions I get on my blog is where I get my patterns and graphics from. Though I don't use them so much any more, I always like inserting a cute little illustration here and there (mainly on my collages), and I love using patterns for my quotes and mantras. My secret? Creative Market. 

I found out about this awesome website from Lauren, who encouraged me to start selling my fonts there. Since then, I have spent far too much money on cute little illustrations and patterns and other fonts. I mean seriously, you should see the inventory I've collected over the past year. Here are a few of my favorites, right now. 

Winterscape doodles by Rowena Leanne Designs

Cupcake patterns by Grafik Boutique // Aleka font by Eurotypo

Wordpress themes by BluChic (that's my website's template above)

One of my favorite things about Creative Market is just how much they appreciate the designers who contribute to their marketplace. It's an awesome community, and you can feel safe knowing that you're supporting some really amazing small businesses when you purchase through them!

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links, which means that I may profit if you click through and purchase something through the site. That being said, I truly only promote shops and items on this blog that I firmly believe in, and I have been a supporter of Creative Market for some time, long before they created their affiliate program. 

{fall, fall, fall :: styled shoot}

Just stopping in to let you know all know that a certain adorable little boy and a certain amazing assistant are going to be featured on a certain wedding blog soon. Be sure to follow along on Twitter and Facebook for the details as they happen!

Photos by Anna Delores Photography // Flowers (and cute kid) by Stella Bloom Designs

{october thoughts + goals}

I don't know that I've shared some of my goals with all of you in a while. I have my fall bucket list, for sure, but that's a bit different. I'm coming toward the end of my busiest, craziest, most overwhelming and stressful wedding season to date, and I've finally had a bit of time to reflect on what it all means and what I'd like for my future. I think anybody, regardless of whether you are self-employed or not, should take time every once in a while to look back on their goals, and reevaluate the direction that they want to go in, both personally and professionally. So, here it goes. 

I've been working on a Project Life-type project lately. It's kind of amazing at forcing me to take an honest look at how wonderful my life truly is. I'm so thankful for that.

1 // I want to be more supportive of my husband in all that he does. 

A marriage is a lot of give and take. For those of you who don't know, my husband is a graduate student (officially a PhD candidate now). Going through a doctoral program is rough. Like, seriously rough, on us as individuals and on our marriage collectively. Robert has always been so supportive of what I do and my dreams, but I just can't help but feel like I can be more supportive of what he does. Obviously I believe in him, and I do what I can to show him that, but I could be more understanding of where he is in life and be more patient with his own process. I love him so, so very much, and it's important to me that we live our marriage together.

2 // I want to take my business to the next level.

But not in the same way that I thought I did. At the beginning of the summer, I did a lot of soul searching with my business. I thought I wanted to bring someone else on to take over, to train my assistant to be more hands-on so that I could take more of a hands-off approach. Last week, I unfortunately had to let my associate coordinator go, the one that I brought on back in July, and it really forced me to take a good, hard look at what I was doing to and for my company. 

Right now, it's going to be really difficult for me to trust anyone else that I bring onto my team. I have Emily (thank GOD - I don't know what I would do without that girl), and I have another incredible assistant coordinator that I know has the potential to add a lot to my company in the future. Thankfully they both share the same vision and values that I have, which makes it so much easier for me to let things go with them. Other than these two girls, however, I just don't know that I'm ready (emotionally) to bring someone else on, not when I was treated so unprofessionally and immaturely, and honestly hurt, by someone that I trusted with my business (aka my child). 

That being said, I'm ready to bring my business to the next level. If I'm being honest with myself, I already am well on my way to being at the next level, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I need to have another coordinator working under me (not now, at least). I think what it means is that I need to be more particular with the weddings that I take on, and that I can't be afraid to charge what I'm actually worth.

3 // I need to start holding myself to a standard of grace, not perfection. 

Okay, so I stole this one from Emily, but it's pretty much exactly what I need right now. I'm probably in the norm when I say that I am really hard on myself. We really are our own worst critics. But if I've learned anything this year, it's that I can't control everything. In business and in life, we have to be dependent on others as well, regardless of whether we trust them or not. Sometimes they'll screw up, and sometimes it may have an impact on our lives and our reputations. 

If I'm going to survive this crazy thing called life, I need to stop blaming myself for anything and everything that goes wrong. Sure, we all make mistakes and I try to always take responsibility when I do make a mistake, but sometimes I just can't keep thinking that everything is my fault. It's not. There are people out there who are selfish and have only their own best interests in mind, and I can't change that. I need to start forgiving myself when something goes wrong, and stop dwelling on it. Because I am a good person, and I'm good at what I do. There are going to be people out there trying to derail me, but I have an amazing group of people who know the real me and honestly believe in what I do. I should probably take a cue from them, and start believing in myself too. 

I know these are abstract goals and concepts, but I really just needed to get them out. I'm sure I'll come up with specific things I can do to work toward these eventually, and I don't know that I'll share them with you necessarily. I just need someone to hold me accountable. Think you can help with that?

Thanks for letting me get it all out friends. I love you.

{wedding season}

You all know that I love September. But guys, it's only the first week of September and things are crazy. You know how they say that summer is wedding season? Yeah, don't believe it. At least for this year, it's fall. 

I left my apartment at 6:30 in the morning on Friday morning, and pretty much ran around until we were done with Lauren's wedding on Sunday. You know what though? It was so. worth. it. She's kind of an amazing lady, and I had SO much fun with this one. The venue was incredible, and I got to work with some of my very favorite photographers. Not only that, but it was the first wedding that I got to do with both Jaime and Emily! 

Anyway, I can't wait to get the photos from Emily and share them with all of you! I know they're going to be fantastic. 

{the vc wedding artists studio}

As you all know by now, I am beyond blessed to share a studio with an amazing group of the most talented wedding vendors in the Ventura County area. We moved into the studio back in April, but it wasn't until last month that we really got everything finished in there. We hosted a soft launch at the beginning of July, and then asked a good photographer friend of ours to come take some photos. I'm so excited to finally share our studio with all of you!

Thank you SO much to Alyssa Armstrong Photography for the photos, and to Stella Bloom Designs, Leo Evidente Photography, and Anna Delores Photography for letting me share a space with you! I love you all!

{the wedding blog + two giveaways}

If you "like" A Charming Occasion on Facebook, you may already know about this promotion and giveaway, but I wanted to share it with all of you as well! As you all know, I am the owner and lead coordinator for A Charming Occasion, a wedding planning and design company based in Southern California. My baby business has grown a lot in the past year, and now I have something else to add to the list: we have a new blog! Since bringing on a few new team members, I've been wanting to create a blog exclusively for the business, which will include wedding planning tips and advice, as well as photos from the weddings we coordinate. Both my associate coordinator and assistant will be blogging along with me. 

photo by Anna Delores Photography

That being said, we are hosting a promotion and giveaway over on The Wedding Blog that anyone looking for a wedding coordinator is going to want to check out! 

You can read about all the details here!

But...there's more. I know that a lot of my readers here on Something Charming aren't currently looking for a wedding coordinator, so I wanted to do something special for all of you. If you share this promotion at all (i.e. via Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or even word of mouth), just let me know in the comments! I'll choose one of you at random to get a $50 Nordstrom gift card! This will be open until the end of August, so be sure to leave a comment every time you share! Good luck!

{vc wedding artists}

You all know that I've been sharing a studio space with some amazing vendors for these past few months, and on Tuesday, we officially launched! We invited some of our closest friends and family to celebrate this huge accomplishment with us. There was lots of food and sweets and wine and photos (of course). I have plenty to show and share with you, but I wanted to just share one for now. It pretty much sums up the entire night. 

taken by Alyssa Armstrong Photography

It's still kind of crazy to me that this is my life. This is my work, this is my passion. I'm truly thankful, everyday, for this amazing opportunity.

{calligraphy for a charming occasion}

If you like my Facebook page, you're probably so tired of hearing this already, but I just had to share with all of you! One of my dearest vendor friends just happens to be one of my favorite photographers, and I am so fortunate that she's always willing to help me out with special projects when they come up. She agreed to photograph some samples of my calligraphy so that I could update my Etsy shop, and open up a Cloud Parade shop. I got them back Saturday morning, and I am SO excited with how they all turned out!

Thank you so much to Anna Delores Photography for the photos!

If you're looking for some calligraphy for your wedding or a special project, you can see my Etsy shop here! I love working with people on fun, creative projects, such as logos, certificates, poems, quotes, and so many other things, so feel free to email me if you are looking for something in particular, or even if you want to chat about what your options are.

{in this together}

I've been bothered lately (though that's nothing new). I struggled trying to put this into words, but here it is.

I've been blogging for about two and a half years now. In that time, I've learned a lot. My blog has changed multiple times, as I personally grew as a human being. Blogging is an immensely personal experience, regardless of what you blog about. It takes a lot of creative courage to put yourself out there like that, and there truly is no right way to do it. 

That being said, has anybody else been bothered by the influx of blogging experts these days? Maybe it's just because of what my own personal concept of what blogging is (though I don't necessarily think it should be anything). In my life, blogging isn't something in and of itself; it's more of a venue for self expression, a way to communicate your life, or thoughts or talents to the world. I don't blog just to blog. I blog to share my life, and to hold myself accountable for my own personal and professional goals and values. 

Now, I am in no way saying that those who curate content aren't legit. In my mind, anybody (and I truly mean anybody) can and should create their own safe space to share whatever it is that they love or that motivates and inspires them. I've been known to use content that isn't my own, but curate it in a way that is original to me. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is...there is no one perfect way to blog. It's too personal for that! That doesn't mean I need to read every blog out there. I still have my own preferences on what I want to dedicate my time to, and I want to find other bloggers and people who I'm compatible with, even if that means the content doesn't match with what I personally blog about.

I think that's why the concept of a blogging expert bothers me so much. Don't get me wrong; I've spent plenty of time and money consulting with other people on how to grow my own blog, but in my experience, I've grown exponentially more when I am vulnerable to my own vision and reality. 

There's a difference between soliciting design advice, or how to grow your sponsorship program on your blog. But those are very neutral topics. Someone who is a fashion blogger, in my mind, doesn't necessarily have the (legitimate) expertise to help you figure out your voice on your lifestyle blog...because it's your voice! 

Maybe consulting with someone in the same niche as you may be beneficial, but I would just warn you to be wary of all of these experts out there. If you are just starting out, know that trial and error is just part of the process of creating an amazing blog! There is no formula. Putting your URL in the Facebook status of some big blogger so they can critique you (because they offered) says more about them than it does about you. They may be able to tell you that your blog design sucks, but unless they know you as a person and as a blogger, they aren't going to give you the personalized feedback that you may be looking for. 

So stick with it. Read other blogs of all niches for inspiration, not necessarily advice. Engage with your readers, and ask what they want from you. That's what should matter to you. Don't listen to mean online forums. And know that your experience is your own. Don't let someone else create that for you. 

{get it done}

One of my very favorite series on any blog is Meg's GSD posts, where she shares how other creative entrepreneurs and young women get shit done. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my own organization and processes, and it's interested to see how other people use technology to their advantage. 

I know I've shared some of the tools that I personally use to GSD, but it's been a while and I've definitely changed a few things since my last post. I thought you might be interested in learning a little bit more about what my day looks like, and how I keep myself and my work organized. 

My Day

I try to wake up around seven a.m. and immediately put on a pot of coffee. Sometimes I get myself ready, sometimes I work in my pajamas, but I always try to get to my desk before eight. My first priority is always to get my inbox to zero, though it rarely happens. If I do empty out my inbox, I don't feel so terrible about ignoring it the rest of the day!

While drinking my coffee (and listening to Ryan Seacrest), I read my favorite blogs, check all of my stats and social media sites, and schedule out my day. The rest of the day is dedicated to blogging and working on client stuff and other miscellaneous projects. I try to prioritize my to do list, but it doesn't always work that way. I prefer to work on one client at a time, so I don't have to bounce back and forth. 

I usually take a break from about noon to two, for naps or reading or walking the dog, and come back to the computer to work until six, or whenever Robert gets home (sometimes that isn't until nine at night!). 

Once Robert is home, I get dinner on the table and work is put away for the rest of the day. I try really hard not to check my phone for at least an hour before I go to bed, so I can sleep peacefully (and not stress about all the things I didn't get done during the day). And our cell phones stay out of the bedroom.

Tools I Use

I've learned that technology can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to keeping myself and my work organized. It's really easy to overwhelm yourself with all the tools and programs out there, but the key is to find what works for you. I always sign up for random stuff, and I'll know within ten minutes of playing around if it's for me or not. That being said, here are a few tools that I've learned are perfect for me:

Highrise // I've been using Highrise for at least a year now, and it's really the best contact and basic project management system I've found. I can create deals for my client leads, mark them as won (which is really exciting), track all of my vendor contacts, and assign tasks by project to myself or my intern. It's one of the two to do lists that I do use, since I can organize tasks by type, project, and date. 

WorkFlowy // I may have just found WorkFlowy last week, but I can already tell that it's the perfect project manager for me. The outline style is great for organizing multiple projects and tasks, and it's easier to add notes this way. The only problem I have with it is that I can't add due dates to my tasks, but I can tag them as #highpriority, which is good enough for now. 

Evernote // I know that everyone and their mother uses Evernote, but I'm just now admitting that the functionality is exactly what I need. I used to be stubborn, and tried to use Word documents for everything, but it's so much easier to keep track of notes in Evernote. All of my clients have their own folder, and I record all of my phone calls and meetings in different notes that are tagged. I also keep track of my processes and templates in Evernote, which is easier than trying to flush through a massive Word document. 

Gmail // Labels in Gmail are my life saver. To be honest, I wish I had the ability to flag emails like you can in Outlook, but it's a small price to pay for the convenience of using a browser based email system. I use the priority inbox, but only mark wedding clients as "Important" so that I can clearly see what is  and isn't project based. I also have "Follow Up" and "Task" labels that I look at every morning to see what needs to be worked on that day. All emails stay in my inbox until they are dealt with (i.e. answered, or a task is completed). 

Google Docs // I use Google Docs for collaborating with people, though I rarely use it with clients. Typically, I create Google Docs for design projects and photo shoots that I need to collaborate with other vendors on. 

Google Calendar // There's something glamorous and somewhat nostalgic about using a paper calendar, I get it, but these days it's just not practical. I have about a thousand calendars that I use for a variety of different things. Appointments, client payments, client deadlines, project deadlines, and even my editorial calendar are all in Google Calendar. 

Google Drive // I know a lot of people use Dropbox to keep their documents and files in the cloud, but I prefer Google Drive, since it syncs with my Google account. I do use Dropbox to exchange files with other people (such as wedding pictures, etc.). 

Excel // I think this might be an obvious one, but Excel is my best friend. I always have my Projects spreadsheet open, which has every wedding, calligraphy project, and miscellaneous project I've ever worked on. I have a status label for the table so I can sort by whether a project is open or closed, and I have a clear idea as to what is being worked on at the moment. I also have an editorial spreadsheet where I keep track of all of my ideas for blog posts, and all of my wedding budgets are tracked in Excel. 

Microsoft Word // To keep track of the actual tasks for my clients (as in, everything that needs to be figured out for a wedding), I use Word templates. I've created my own specialized Word documents with everything I might need to coordinate for a client, and update it accordingly. About once a week I'll go through this document for each of my clients, and figure out exactly what we need to work on next. 

Pocket // I like having all of the articles and posts I want to remember in one place, which is why I love Pocket so much. I have the extension installed for Chrome, so I can literally save any post or article straight from my browser. 

Chrome // Please, if you haven't switched to Chrome yet, do it now. Extensions allow me to tweet or pin directly from my browser bar. I can save links via bit.ly, or view my blog's stats for the day without even having to check Google Analytics. And, I can keep everything consistent by signing into my Google account in Chrome on my computer, iPad, and iPhone. It doesn't get any better than that!

Feedly // We all know the drama surrounding Google Reader, so I've officially switched to Feedly. The only issue I'm having right now is that it doesn't recognize some of the smaller blogs that I want to follow, and it keeps adding random blogs that I used to follow via GFC. Strange. 

Here are a few other apps and programs that I use:

Photoshop

Photobucket

Silver Bird

Hootsuite

Disqus

Quixly

Two Bright Lights

Google Analytics

Bit.ly

Kindle Cloud Reader

Good Noows

Skype

Blogstomp

PayPal

Wow, so I don't know that I even realized how many apps and programs I use until I just wrote them all out like that. That's crazy! But looking at them all, I really have taken the time to figure out exactly what I need to use to make things work for myself. There is wedding and event planning software out there, but I much prefer keeping track of everything on my own. And there's a big difference between what I prefer to use when I'm working on something on my own, and what is easier to use when collaborating with other people. It's all about trial and error, I suppose!

So tell me, what do you use to get **it done?

{something charming}

I think we all go through identity crises sometimes, and that is most definitely true if you have a blog. I mean, remember that time I decided to stop blogging about weddings on Wednesdays?  Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I changed my design. Again. 

I love blogging, so much, but I just feel so strange these days. I have so many things I want to blog about, and I'm so excited to share it all with you! I just have this problem where I don't want to do something unless I do it perfectly. I know that's not really the best way to live life, but that's just how I am. That being said, I think I'm starting to figure it out. It all feels like it's kind of falling apart, but maybe that just means it's falling together?

I know what I love. Maybe I should just stick with that.

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