Free Engagement Session by Winstead Photography

Roger at Winstead Photography is offering a complimentary off-site engagement photo session, including a free 8 x 10 print to all new clients, who book his services during the month of February.

Roger serves clients throughout North Carolina and beyond, including for destination weddings. To learn more about Winstead Photography, please visit their website. And if you're on Twitter, you can follow him here.

Photo Credit: Winstead Photography

The Bride's Book - Be the Next Bride Featured on the Cover

Carolina brides would you like a chance for your one of your beautiful wedding photographs to be featured on the next cover of The Bride's Book magazine?

If so, you can submit a professional photograph of yourself from your wedding to Courtney Shaver at cshaver{at}thebridesbook{dot}com to be considered. And do not forget to subscribe to The Bride's Book newsletter.

The lucky bride featured on the new Spring 2010 issue of their magazine, which hits the stands in March, was shot by Lisa Brown of Bella Rose Photography. Congratulations on the feature!!

A Wedding Planner's Rants - Pricing Matching, Say What?

If you are a wedding planner and are practicing price matching, stop it now because a) you are devaluing your brand; and b) price matching has no business in any professional consulting or creative business, where you are paid for your expertise and artwork. Appreciate your brand and expertise, do not depreciate it.

And brides, it is not okay to ask a wedding and event professional if they price match, especially if you are not comparing apples to apples. For example, there is a difference in the level of service provided by a wedding planner who charges $500 for wedding day coordination and the professional who charges $1500 or more. The same holds true for photographers and videographers and other event specialists.

Silk Clutches Adorned with Flowers = Stylish Accessories

Every now and again, I like to browse through Etsy's website to view the artwork of the many talented handcrafters listed there. Today, I stumbled upon these stylish handmade silk clutches by My Patterned Mind. Following are a few of my favorites:

Royal Teal Silk Clutch with Teal Chrysanthemum Blossom

Iridescent Raspberry Silk Clutch with Plum Chrysanthemum Blossom

French Beige Silk Clutch with Sweet Cream Sunflower

Rustic Rose Luxious Silk Clutch

If you are a fashion-forward bride or diva, please be sure to check out My Pattern Mind's collection of silk clutches.

Engagement and Wedding Announcements - Raleigh, NC

The News and Observer has made it very easy for you to create and submit your engagement or wedding announcements online. With just a few steps, their website allows you to choose a layout for your announcement, compose the information, and upload your photo. In addition, you will receive an instant price quote, so you can immediately pay for and submit your announcement online.

Their website also allows you to submit engagement and wedding announcements for the following publications:

• The News and Observer Arts and Living Sunday Section
• The Chapel Hill News
• The Cary News
• The Durham News
• Eastern Wake News
• Garner Clayton News
• Midtown Raleigh News
• North Raleigh News
• The Herald Smithfield
• Southwest Wake News

How convenient is it that you can submit your announcements for any region in the Triangle area in just one place?

The deadline to submit your announcement is 3:00 p.m. on Thursdays. Please note that your announcement must be submitted 10 days prior to the Sunday publication you wish for your engagement or wedding announcement to appear.

What’s the difference between engagement and wedding announcements?

An engagement announcement announces your engagement and would be published in your local and hometown publications months in advance, usually three months at minimum and no more than six months from your wedding date. Wedding announcements are made after your wedding to announce your marriage, usually the weekend of your wedding. However, it can run a few weeks or a couple of months later.

Vintage-Inspired - Couture Bridal Hair Accessories

*This is a re-post and content has been modified. I first blogged about birdcage veils and couture hair accessories back in 2008 when they were initially becoming popular among modern brides, who were looking for an alternative to the traditional and outdated wedding veil.

With the renewed popularity of birdcage veils, I am sure that more brides will sport them down the aisle for the 2010 wedding season. However, if you are truly into couture hair accessories, I suggest that checkout bridal hats designed by Artikal Handcrafted Millinery. I learned about them back over the summer and felt in love with their collection.

Photo 1 - photographed by Alison Mayfield Photography; makeup by Catherine Solomon;

Photo 2 - photographed by Simon Lo Photography; makeup by Katherine Soto.

Photographed by Marie Labbancz; makeup by Claudia Seyler;

Photo 1 - photographed by Marie Labbancz; makeup by Claudia Seyler;

Photo 2 - photography by Erica Lynn photography; Makeup by Michelle;

These modern styled veils and hair accessories are vintage-inspired, but with a modern twist. I, especially love the texture of and little details that went into these designs. Don't you? They are perfect for high-end bridal photo session.

Five Tips for Wedding Vendor Contracts

I initially posted these five bits of advice about hiring wedding vendors and signing service agreements back in April 2009, but I wanted to republish them for all of you recently engaged brides.

• Get it in writing! Before you pay a retainer or non-refundable deposit to any vendor for wedding services, it is imperative that you have all arrangements in writing in the form of a service agreement, signed by both you and the respective vendor. Never ever pay a retainer to a vendor without a contract. If they do not have a service agreement for you to sign and you want to hire them, then draw up your own written service agreement.

• Do not sign a contract until you have read every line. You absolutely should read every service agreement you sign to make sure you understand the vendor's terms and conditions for services. If there is something that you do not agree to, then by all means let the vendor know to see if you can come to a mutually agreed upon term. This not to say that a vendor should rewrite his or her entire contract for you because this is not likely to happen due to the fact that contracts are designed to cover and protect the parties involved.

• Review all vendor contracts. Every vendor contract should at least include the following: your event date, the start and end times, including set up time, a cancellation policy and a service description including any custom details or special requests that you discussed. In addition, the contract should have both a fee and payment schedule. The fee schedule should clearly outline what's included in the base or quoted price, the price of any additional services if you requested any, and the cost of overtime should your event go over the amount of hours included in the service. The payment schedule should include your retainer, which is due at the time of signing the contract and it should also clearly outline the due dates of remaining payments.

• Pay with a credit card. If possible pay for vendor services with a credit card. In this way, if there is a problem and you think in full conscious that you deserve a refund for services and the vendor denies you a refund, you will have a much better chance of obtaining that refund than if you had paid with cash or check because you can fail a claim. Another perk to using a credit is that you can earn points, for example for air mileage and in come cases cash-back and this may help you pay for your honeymoon. Please note that when I say pay with a credit card, I am not saying use your credit cards to finance your wedding as in get in debt.

• Go with your gut instincts. If it's something that does not sit well with you about a vendor and or his contract, then by all means trust your instincts and locate someone else to provide that service for you.

Should your wedding planner sign your vendor contracts? Get the answer by clicking here.

Photo: Quick Purchase