We are so excited about the war ending in Iraq and we are hoping that a lot of service men and women are finally coming home and ready to tie the knot in our nation’s capital!  We have been offering a military discount since day one!  So – if you or your fiance is in the military – do not hesitate to let us know so we can extend our discounts to you so we can do our part in giving thanks for your service!

(photo by Documentary Associates)

Gorgeous fun wedding cake from The Knot with orange drink stirrers from Bab’s Etsy Shop

Our own gloriosa lily bouquet with our in-house lanterns (photo by Roman Grinev)

Fabyan Orange Gown via Wedding Inspirasi with beautiful earrings from Rachelle’s Jewelry Box

Orange Brocade Kitten Heels from BHLDN with our menus and orchids (photo from Documentary Associates)

We have been so excited to show you these photos from a wedding we did in early July with Amber Karson Events!

The bride had the most amazing carnival theme that had a wonderful red and blue color scheme.  To go along with the carnival theme we added candy to all of the centerpieces either in jars or with candy apples complete with color coordinated ribbon.  The candy bar was complete with all sorts of nostalgic candy and more caramel coated apples!  We got the apples custom ordered from the Dutch Farmers Market in Laurel.  I even watched them hand dip them!

The candy bar was complete with cute banners from the client!

There are so many other fun elements from the wedding – which should be spotted on another blog or magazine shortly!!

Congrats to Sarah and Joe!

Photography by Documentary Associates

We are thrilled that we have been featured as Editor’s Choice for one of the best florists in the Washington, DC area in the current issue of The Knot Magazine!

To top it off – we were also featured for our event that we did for The Knot at Nationals Park!

We had a fabulous event with some of the best wedding vendors in the DC area – including Amie Otto who took the fantastic photos for the day!

Have a great weekend everyone and we will see you next week for more featured weddings and a new regular guest blogger that we will introduce!

Infusing flowers is something we love to do!  Of course pears have their whole “perfect pair” mentality in weddings, but I just love using then for their colors.  Mixing floating pears and orchids is a perfect combo!

It’s hard to find an all green centerpiece at certain times of the year…but you can’t go wrong with pears, vibernum and bupleurum!

Having a citrusy feel to your buffet is perfect with bright orange linens and a lime filled vase.  Limes were used after the event! (Arrangement includes green Dutch hydrangea, orange unique and black magic roses with burgundy cymbidium orchids).

We loved creating this backyard oasis cocktail  display complete with tropical foliage, oranges, orchids, snapdragons, lily grass and pin cushions.

An event we did many years ago which still gets so many accolades!  Oranges and kumquats filled the vase with pretty and simple curly willow branches with words of love from the Paper Source.  This event was at the Decatur House and was actually on the cover of their brochure (another photo with our flowers is currently on the cover!)

More to come tomorrow!

(Photo credits – 1st – Amy Deputy, 2nd-4th – Katie Martin (me), 5th – Rodney Bailey)

We have been in love with United With Love since they launched!  This month is their 6 month Anniversary!  Be sure to check  them out.  We have a few weddings and ideas that are featured there from time to time as well!  Click here to see what has been featured so far!

Katie loves Houzz! She has their app on her ipad and refers to it weekly when their new ideabooks are downloaded! Take a look:

Houzz is great for inspiration for your office, home and wedding!!!

Finally – as you already know about Eco-Beautiful Weddings – we just want to remind you that today is the last day to win that We Wood Watch from the Green Is Section of the Spring 2011 Issue and there are many prizes still to win – click here to see them all and learn how to win!

I finally have a chance to blog my last big wedding from 2010.  Jennifer Hughes sent these beautiful images over to me from Amy + Daryn’s nautical-themed wedding at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott.

Amy + Daryn chose the beautiful Old Otterbein UMC Church (which has served Baltimore since 1771!!!) for their ceremony.

So many fun and interesting nautical details from the reception…

The nautical knot was perfect for their menu (taken from the design of their invitations).  We designed the escort cards to look like tiny nautical flags (yes we cut each and every one individually and placed in them in sand).  The sand boxes were surrounded by nautical rope along with tiny sand dollars and starfish!  Instead of a guest book – Amy + Daryn opted for fun wooden nautical flags for their guests to write on!

Amy really wanted some fun and different details.  From the nautical cake topper (as created by the pastry chef onsite the Marriott) to the fun decor items we created complete with lifesaver accents!

Stay tuned for more and thanks again to Jennifer Hughes for the images!

Following up on our post from this past Tuesday, we are excited to bring you more details from the reception at Margaret and Patrick’s beautiful wedding at Rust Manor in Leesburg.  Transitioning into the reception, Margaret and Patrick went from a purple and green theme to adding blue to the mix at the reception.

We used a mixture of different centerpieces: 2 low and 1 tall (tall not shown here).  We had some great navy fabric leftover from another event that complimented the color scheme well and wrapped some of the low vases with it! Our graphic artist designed the table numbers, programs and more!

The bride’s mom came up with a great quilt idea to have each of the guests write a note to the bride and the groom on quilt squares to incorporate into a finalized quilt!  I had so much fun with the mom gathering ideas and our carpenter on staff made that cute sewing station stand from reclaimed wood!

I just love how bright and cheery the spools of thread are!  This was all a surprise to the bride the night of the wedding.  Her grandmother was a quilter and it was a wonderful and bittersweet reminder of how family lives on in traditions.

Yes – you have probably seen a similar cake in The Knot!  She loved it and Design Cuisine did a great job of replicating it for her with their wedding colors!

Combining both of their family’s heritage – we brought in Lebanese Debke Dancers and Irish Celtic Dancers towards the end of the evening!

Then, if that was not enough – we made sure they were sent off with Irish Lucky Clover Cookies, Baklava and Mulled Cider to Go!

Many Congrats to Margaret + Patrick!

Vendors

Photography – Kathy Blanchard

Veneu – Rust Manor

Wedding Planning, Design, Florals, Lanterns, Programs, Signage – Elegance & Simplicity, Inc.

Catering + Rentals – Design Cuisine + DC Rental

DJ Music Services - Disc Jockeys On Call

Videography – Blue Sky Films

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/margaret-patricks-lebanese-irish-reception/feed/ 1 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/more-floral-designs-from-candace-chris-wedding/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/more-floral-designs-from-candace-chris-wedding/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:00:37 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3700

This is a continuation from the floral design post from Candace and Chris Ourisman’s wedding at the Ourisman home.  We just simply had flowers everywhere!  Too much to post in one blog post!  Above is Candace’s bouquet with garden roses, hydrangea, snowberries, freesia, rosemary, lisianthus and scabiosa.  We finished her bouquet with a hand-dyed silk ribbon to match her beautiful gown from Jorge Manuel.

As we mentioned in our previous post – we have a whole new “fleet” of white milk glass from this wedding.  We scoured local antique markets and a few other places and found some of the most beautiful and adorable milk glass pieces!

If you take a close look – you can see the beautiful new votives (off to the left is a gold chalice and back in the center there is a green bubbly votive cup).  We now have over 2000 votive cups in different colors and varieties in our inventory!  Whew – that was a lot of counting during our Fall Warehouse Clean Up!!!  Also – every single table had its own individual frame – some were vintage and some were vintage-inspired.

We had about 20 vintage tea cups in our inventory before this wedding – but we added about 5 more (including this beautiful tea cup and saucer set).

Stay tuned for more decor and details!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/more-floral-designs-from-candace-chris-wedding/feed/ 1 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/floral-designs-for-candace-and-chris/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/floral-designs-for-candace-and-chris/#comments Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:02:33 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3690

I can’t begin to imagine how many blog posts I will do for this wedding – so I am not even going to try to number them!  Candace and Chris Ourisman’s wedding was a showcase wedding beyond my wildest dreams.  Candace had such amazing ideas and she let me be as creative as possible with the decor aspect.  She wanted a real eco-chic, modern, shabby-chic, gorgeous wedding.  I think we nailed it!

You will see from all of these various photos that we took a lot from our inventory and infused a few new pieces.  We had a ton of tea cups, vintage frames, mason jars, and glass milk bottles already – but we added a few new antique items for this wedding.  New items included things like milk glass and vintage tea cups from our local antique shops.  Almost all of the pieces we used in their centerpieces were actual antiques!

Candace chose a beautiful color palette of whites and greens with touches of turquoise here and there!

We had such a fun time with turn-over for this wedding.  Above are floating floral designs that we hung above the tapenade station during cocktail hour.  Stay tuned for what we did with them after dinner!

More to come from their wedding this week!

(Of course – a HUGE Thanks to Jennifer Domenick from Love Life Images for these amazing photos!)

Here is the third and final installment of Mary Kate McKenna’s Wedding from earlier this summer.

Many thanks to Azul Photography for his amazing work (he came all the way from NC for Mary Kate’s Wedding)!  I just adore this photo above from their ceremony!

We had so much fun making these adorable bouquets with vintage ornamental birds. I had no idea how cute their dresses were going to be!!!  IN LOVE!!!

And another great photo of the couple with our fun biodegradable trellis!

Another of Mary Kate’s genius table number boxes that she made herself from a carpentry class she took!  A girl after my own heart!  We simply just added the flowers.  She provided all of the milk bottles and mason jars (which we quickly grabbed from her after the wedding).

Many blessings to the happy couple!

I was so excited to do this wedding for just a multitude of reasons.  I can’t wait to show you more images from Candace and Chris’ which took place on September 11th.

Stay tuned for a blog series about this super sweet couple!

Congrats to Jeannete and Joey!

Their wedding was in July at St. John’s followed by their reception at the Decatur House!

I just loved her dress with those fantastic ruffles!

We made some pretty traditional bouquets comprised of  roses, lisianthus, and stargazer lilies…along with the adorable carnation pomander below:

Then came the reception!

Jeannette opted for three different centerpieces:

1) Tall Peach Gladioli mixed with white dendrobium orchids

2) Low pink Dutch hydrangea centerpieces

3) Tall simple arrangements with pink hydrangea

(Love the combination with the blue linens)

She also had a special guest!  Michael Steele!!

A big thank you to Odell Photos for these images and again – many congrats to our happy couple!

Cheers,

We are so thrilled that Project Wedding Featured Kendall and Mo’s wedding as well as the very cute blog:

Click on both logos to read all about the wedding and about green weddings!

Congrats again Kendall and Mo!!

I know that this wedding is going to have a few posts on it…

So I decided to start with the most unusual part of this wedding.  Never mind the fact that the beautiful bride in the photo is cutie patootie photographer Mary Kate McKenna – this wedding had some serious flair!

Her wedding was at the beautiful Thorpewood and her wedding planner – Laura Auer of Wish Special Events made it incredible and easy for Mary Kate!  Of course – we love working with other wedding planners!

I wanted to focus on this very special arch we made for Mary Kate.  She let us get creative but using hearty branches, a bit of curly willow, and grapevine to create this quirky (and I think adorable) arch for their altar.  Being outside and in a very woody area – it made the perfect setting for a very cute couple!  So many of our couples this year have let us get creative and use the talents of my amazing husband – who is a master carpenter!  We donated the arch to the property as the branches will biodegrade over the next few months!  Click on the photo to enlarge it!

Stay tuned for more photos!

Thanks to Jaime from The  Blonde Photographer for the image above!

We posted a few of the photos from Kati & Jason’s wedding from May this year…however Rodney sent over this great video montage of the images from their wedding at the Decatur House!

Take a look by clicking on the image above!

Cheers to Kati & Jason!

Ahh – we just can’t say enough about Kendall & Mo’s wedding!  So I decided to break it up into 4 posts!  Yes!  I thought I was just going to do 3 posts – but there was so much going on at this wedding – I just can’t get enough of it.  The 1st post was just a teaser last week with their chalkboard!

Today – it’s all about the wonderful and creative Etsy Designers that they used!

All stationary (save the dates, invites, custom cardstock, escort cards, thank you notes, etc.) were done by Magnolia Papier.  Taylor was AWESOME with all of Kendall’s special requests!

These flowers were attached to her escort card table – which I show the entire table in tomorrow’s yummy post!

You will see the two love birds below – that were everywhere at the wedding!

Her stationery items were also inspiration for her cake – which will be in a another post this week!

Their Fingerprint tree by Sweet Carolina Design

Her beautiful crystal headband was by LELETNY (as seen above in their portait – which I love with her amazing eyes flashin’!)

Kendall gave me and the bridesmaids beautiful vintage crystal brooches from Aged and Opulent (which I adore since her colors were also the colors of my wedding – yum!) and from Vintage and Victorian!

And these freakin’ adorable fairy wings for the cutie pie flower girl by attiTUTUde!

Stay tuned tomorrow for all the decor we provided that day!

A big hug and thanks to Jennifer Hughes for these magnificent photos!

We are very excited to be in the new issue of the Washingtonian Bride & Groom Magazine again as one of the best wedding planners in the DC area!  Such a cute cover and the issue is chock full of great ideas!

We are especially excited about our featured wedding with Anna & Denis at the Dumbarton House! Click on the image (provided by the Washingtonian Bride & Groom) below to get a better view:

Thanks Washingtonian and Cheers to Anna & Denis!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/washingtonian-feature-2/feed/ 2 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:29:43 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3049

Here are a few more details from Kati & Jason’s wedding at the Decatur House this spring.  They had such a fun a funky decor design and everyone left saying that the wedding was “so them”!  I love hearing that!

Yes – we always want people to say that the wedding was fun and beautiful and elegant…but we also want the weddings that we are a part of to really reflect the client and their taste.  It is not about what we want or how we do things – it is about what you want for your wedding day.  When we hear guests say things like that was so unique and so much like Kati (the bride) – then we know we have done our job!

Kati and her mom brought me dozens of cute and interesting small vases that they collected over the past few months and we filled all of them with various purple and blue flowers.  They had one small vase with two photos of them at each age – representing the number of the table…very cute and very them!

Along with this hilarious – yet simple cake.

We love weddings that are as unique as the couple themselves.  They had two ceremonies to reflect both of their cultures – be sure to incorporate heritage and culture in your reception as well!

Thanks to Rodney Bailey again for providing amazing photos in with such a short turn around!

Congrats Kati & Jason!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/love-those-shoes/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/love-those-shoes/#comments Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:45:21 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3043

I have some wonderful images that Rodney Bailey sent over to me from a super cute spring wedding at the Decatur House!  Loved the shoes Kati!  Stay tuned for more images!

We are so excited!!!  We just updated our website! Click on this preview to take a look!

Let us know what you think!

Cheers!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/our-new-site-is-live/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/weddings-at-the-decatur-house/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/weddings-at-the-decatur-house/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:11:32 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=1968

We are so excited about some of our upcoming weddings at the Decatur House for 2010.

I also just got some photos back from Greg Gibson for flowers that we did at the Decatur House with Sara Bauleke from Bella Notte!  Yes – we are wedding planners and so is Sara Bauleke!  BUT – we are also a full-service floral design and decor company and we love working with all of our fellow fabulous wedding planners!  (Of course – we also love working with Greg Gibson!!!!)

Take a look at what we we did together in November!

Let us know what you are planning for your wedding at the Decatur House!

Happy Planning!

~Katie Martin

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/weddings-at-the-decatur-house/feed/ 2 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/2009-2010/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/2009-2010/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:29:59 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=1881 Hello everyone – long note here – but worth the read!  So get your glasses (whether reading or wine) and hunker down for this one!

A few of us here at Elegance & Simplicity, Inc. are off traveling for the holidays.  We hope to still bring you a few more posts before the end of the year though. Sorry for the lack of posts here over the past few days, we have been prepping for many new things for 2010 for you!  Including the relaunch of our website incorporating our wonderful new logo!

I am actually just about to get on a plane to Florida to meet the wonderful Lara Casey of Southern Weddings Magazine.  I hope to bring back a few copies of the magazine – so be sure to pick up a copy when you stop by the office!

Here is a list of some major things for you to know for 2010!

1st – My 1st book, The Everything Mother of the Bride Book, 2nd Edition (an Adams Media Publication), will be coming out in February or March.  If you have not done so yet, please click on the big ‘ole sidebar jpeg of the cover of my book to the right.  Let my mom and I know why you have the best mother-of-the-bride (or mother-in-law to be or grandmother) to win $250 to go towards your wedding!  I can’t wait for my 1st book to hit bookshelves!  It will be the only mother of the bride book to talk about eco-friendly weddings and same-sex weddings.  Truly current, especially for DC area weddings since same-sex weddings are about to go legal in DC!  It is also easier to read and more inclusive – hard to explain, but will make more sense when you pick up a copy!  I have already gotten some great reviews from those who have gotten a sneak peek!  Can’t wait to share!  My mom typically posts about mother of the bride or groom issues every Wednesday – so check back every week moms!

2nd – We hope to post more content about the wedding that was featured in the Washingtonian.  They really only allow two pages worth of photos in their magazine per real wedding and there are so many more wedding goodies from Kate’s wedding that I cannot wait to share with you!    We also have an amazing feature in the new Bride and Bloom Magazine!  I also can’t wait for you to see our new listing in the Grace Ormonde Magazine!  Yippee!

3rd – I am in the final stretch of finishing my second book – The Everything Wedding Book, 4th Edition, which is another Adams Media publication. That book is set to hit bookshelves at the end of  2010!  So, this will be the reason why I will be “off to write” offline for the remainder of the year.   Then in January and February I will finish my 3rd book Eco-Beautiful Weddings!

4th – I am excited to let you know that we will be launching a website all about same-sex weddings here in the DC area.  There is a huge buzz being created around the world (literally) about same-sex weddings going legal in DC.  We will be hand-picking wedding planners to cake vendors that are gay-friendly and reviewed and approved by the nation’s leading gay wedding planner: Bernadette Coveney Smith of 14 Stories in Boston.  It is an exciting time in DC!

5th – We have had a fantastic year filled with exciting new things!  With over 40 staff members (and growing) serving brides and grooms for wedding planning and floral designs, we cannot wait to show you the new eco-couture and fashion-forward designs we have to offer for weddings in the DC area. There simply is no other wedding planning or floral design firm in the DC area that has the know-how and the passion for creating multi-faceted, multi-cultural, stylish and eco-couture events.   We are the  wedding industry’s leader in eco-friendly wedding design with the launch of our new magazine Eco-Beautiful Weddings.

The website houses our online magazine and blog.  While I am the editor-in-chief and publisher of the magazine, I will be taking on a select amount of clients every year to focus on greening their weddings and events along with helping other wedding professionals become green (or greener).  We have an amazing team of wedding planners and floral designers led by Tara Davis (aka “Katie Part 2″) and Keya Beale.  Tara leads our team of 6 weddings planners on staff and Keya leads our floral design team!  All wedding planners on staff are trained in floral designs as well.

I will have more announcements for you in January!  We have 3 new projects in the works!

Our staff strives to provide only the best in Washington, DC weddings and Eco-Beautiful Wedding Style!

Stay Tuned!

Have a Happy Holiday!

Cheers!

Katie Martin

Our new blog layout is based on the new logo (as you can probably tell)!  Our website will be updated in December.

Stay tuned!

Invitation via Papeterie
Ice cream cones via Elegance & Simplicity (by Design Cuisine)
Candy bar via Big Wedding Tiny Budget
Shoes via Rodney Bailey
Bridesmaids via Our Labor of Love
Gown: “Dandelion” Collen Quen Couture
Cake Weddings Fresh
Bouquet:  District Weddings

Happy Planning!

~Katie Martin

A simple vintage dress can be bought online or at a consignment shop – huge savings typically for a style like these:

When in doubt – go to Etsy – you can find some amazing dresses and accessories online:

Then, of course, you have the vintage headpieces to go with them (and think about for your bridesmaids as well)

photo by The Observatory

Vintage is something that never goes out of style as not all brides like it or can pull it off.  You will never look dated in photos as brides have been using these styles since they 1st came out in Victorian age and the 20′s.  Think about bright red lipstick! Something large and white in your hair will be offset gloriously with bright red lips (consult your make-up artist!)  Check out this style – white, black and red on a bride is classic Hollywood glamour throwback to the 1940′s:

Vintage floral design means an abundance of flowers.  Vintage means interesting scent combinations and voluminous floral designs.  Think hydrangea, peonies, roses and orchids. Here are few of our own floral designs that work perfectly with a vintage glam design:

photo by Documentary Associates

photo by Love Life Images

Don’t forget about the vintage jewelry and think about color gemstones as well!

photo by The Observatory

Make the day sweet with our Vintage Candy Jars!

It is green to go Victorian and Vintage when you are reusing items!

I will post more about Vintage weddings soon!

Cheers, Katie Martin

Sugarplum helped to create a beautiful tent on the Congressional Country Club’s terrace.  Lauren let us create a custom beautiful white wall backdrop and custom pedestals along with a touch of whimsy from the lanterns.  Although this was the landscape for the ceremony – it ended up being the lounge after the wedding – complete with cigar rollers that we flew in from Florida!

Then – Jennifer Domenick met up with the bride and groom a couple of days after the wedding for these amazing portraits….I love this style so much…they look so relaxed!

I know I say this often…but it is the truth…I will miss spending time and emailing with Lauren and her mom. Lauren was the kind of client that reminded me often about why I love in the wedding industry.  She was in love with the wedding planning process while utterly in love with her husband.  The day of the wedding – she was beaming with an amazing smile (all day)!

Congratulations Lauren & Shane!

Katie Martin

How did you get started in the wedding business?
By accident. Seriously!  Coming out of college with a background in IT, I was struggling to find a job.  It was right after the dot-com bubble burst, and the market was saturated with people who had much better resumes than I did. I took a job as a contractor doing some cross-platform database development for a DJ agency near Baltimore.  I was there a couple weeks when they asked if I’d be interested in becoming a DJ, and I thought it might be fun. I turned out to have a natural knack for DJing, and particularly for weddings.  I quit the agency after being there almost four years and started MyDeejay.com – the rest is history!

What do you do when you are not working?
I don’t understand… what do you mean “when you are not working?”  I’ve never heard of that…  I work a lot.  MyDeejay.com is a family business, both me and my beautiful and talented wife Jennifer work on the company full-time.  Building and maintaining a successful business takes a lot of time, but when we’re not in the office we spend as much time as possible with our uber-cute son Colin.

How would you describe your approach to weddings?
Our approach is all about honesty, trust, and results.  The DJ is typically the vendor that couples are most worried about, because they’ve either seen a bad wedding DJ or have heard horror stories.  We really strive to be the antithesis to the stereotype.  Each couple meets their DJ, in person, before we even give them a contract.  We place a premium on building a strong relationship with our clients, which enables us to serve them better and give them exactly what they want on their wedding day.  The proof is in the pudding – our online reviews are consistently fantastic, and our clients refer us like crazy to their engaged friends.

What inspires you in your work?
Being the best.  I don’t mean that in the sense that I just want MyDeejay.com to be better than the other DJ companies in the area, I want us to be better than every other DJ company imaginable.  We compete against ourselves, and constantly challenge ourselves to be better.  Our mantra is “doing business the right way,” which means that we are always looking for ways to improve and provide better service to our customers.  This includes everything from the advice on our website to the clothes we wear when we are setting up our equipment – every aspect of our business is designed for one purpose: to provide the best customer experience possible.

What  do you find the most rewarding about your job?
Knowing that we’re making people happy and delivering on our promises every single weekend. Most of the time, couples have no idea how important our job is to the overall success of the reception – they don’t realize our impact until the end of the wedding.  Getting thank-you notes and emails, great online reviews, and referrals from our former clients is incredibly satisfying, because it means that we’re actually accomplishing our goals.

What’s the one thing you wish everyone knew about you or your business?
You know, even though we put a ton of information on our website, there is still a lot that we don’t talk about.  I wish everyone knew how much time and effort we put into each wedding, each couple, and our company in general.  We make it look easy, but it’s a lot of work.  Our customers don’t know about our cutting-edge management backend (that nobody besides us will ever see), our internal policies and processes, our incredible DJ training program that we make EVERYONE go through – even if they’ve done 500 weddings, or the continuous education and group training we do with our staff.  I like to say we’re stuck in a “company improvement feedback loop” because it’s a process that never ends.

What do you think sets your company apart from other wedding DJs?
Basically our entire approach – we’ve designed our entire business to give our customers the best experience possible.  We give couples all of the benefits of working with a single-operator DJ like excellent customer service and the ability to meet their DJ before they sign a contract, and add all of the advantages of working with a larger company, like a huge music library and a rock-solid emergency backup program.  I think we stand out from other DJ companies because we don’t have any weaknesses, and we have an impeccable reputation that we are extremely proud of.

What do you love about weddings?
Everything!  Well, almost everything.  Honestly, this is the best job in the world.  It’s still incredible to me that, when I go to work, the people I’m working for are having the happiest day of their lives, and it’s my job to make sure that everyone has fun.  I love music, I love happy people, and I love the sense of satisfaction I get at the end of the night and the bride and groom tell me how much fun they had.  Weddings are incredibly rewarding emotionally, because you have a chance to make someone’s special day an amazing experience.

What’s the best piece of advice you can give to couples when planning the music aspect of their wedding?
Do your homework.  You probably don’t realize it, but this is basically the most important decision you’re going to make in terms of the overall impact on your reception.  If you have great entertainment, your wedding will be a smashing success.  If you have not-so-great entertainment, your guests will probably leave early.  It pays to do some research, check references, and check online reviews.

Who is your favorite artist or band?
I ask people this question all the time, and I can’t answer it myself.  I love too much music.  How’s this?  A six-way tie between Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Outkast, Mos Def, The Cure, and Thievery Corporation.  And Diana Krall.  And Brad Paisley.  And Sade.  Nevermind, I give up. I can’t do it.

What is the worst song of all time?
It’s funny you should ask!  Speaking of segues, I have a 4-part series on my blog (http://www.mydeejay.com/blog/2009/08/worst-songs-ever-40-worst-songs-of-all-time-part-1) that answers this very question.

Open mic, final thoughts:
Planning a wedding should be fun, or at least not un-fun.  Try to remember that you’re celebrating your love, and it’s not about making other people happy.  Other people will be happy for you if you’re happy, and if they’re not, then they shouldn’t be on your guest list.  Other than that, just hire professionals and people you can trust.  Take their advice, follow their lead, and it will be great!

Cute, cute and more cute…so many eco-friendly and organic products on this website – I am mad I just found it this week!!!  GO NOW to BTC Elements!  RUN to your nearest computer!  They have reclaimed fabric dresses, potato chip bag coasters and “upcycled” accessories!

And if you are wanting to buy a present for me – OMG – I love this!  Yes – I love to read and now must wear reading glasses and I love, love, love this cutie patootie eyeglass holder!

Loup Charmant…loving the ethereal organic white cotton looks here!

I am the biggest fan of Danny Seo – if you don’t know who he is yet – check out his website and his blog! I love the new products Danny Seo has put out – Whole Earth:  Click on the body wash and buy them for your groomsmen and bridesmaids!!!

Ok ladies…if you have not gotten into fabric (like I have) – I think this is the fabric I love for someone’s wedding.  I have a few weddings coming up in the spring that could totally use this fabric!  Love Rubie Green – eco-chic fabrics!

Finally – if you have not been searching online for ideas from blogs – here is great place to start..wedzilla!  They are launching a national website – stay tuned for more details!

Stay tuned for more products soon and some new photos I am about to post from recent weddings and spring ones as well!

Cheers! ~ Katie Martin