Have you asked us yet how you can get your Joyful Celebration! Wedding Officiant Services for FREE? (Yes, there IS a catch...but it's a good one! And yes, you can share this with friends and family....)
Contact us to schedule your Wedding Interview to get the details.
Be Well, Rev. Sherry
Brides.com ran an article last month about high-tech help for busy brides:
If you use a BlackBerry, try downloading My Wedding Companion.
Using an iPhone? Try their Wedding Bridal Binder.
Both of these applications manage schedules, budgets, etc.
Try it. Let me know how they work!
Do you have other Wedding Planning tools that work well for you?
Let us know about those too. We are always intersted in tips to make planning easier for our brides!
Be Well,
Rev. Sherry
Are You a Birmingham Employee?
In our on-going effort to help support local commerce, A Joyful Celebration! Is now offering discounts on our wedding, pre-marriage counseling, and marriage support services to Birmingham employees.
Just show us your Birmingham Employee Discount Card. Don't have a card yet? Complete the free application at www.enjoybirmingham.com
Be Well,
Rev. Sherry
So this morning at 9AM my Assistant, Colleen showed up. I had just gotten out of the shower, was cleaning my husbands bathroom sink, the business phone was ringing, and I was trying to ask Colleen to grab a table from the garage before she got in and took her coat off. Then she couldn't find the table, and I couldn't find the table...so I had to call my handyman to ask him where he put it. (Found it!)
Prior to this; I had edited photos for the website, arranged two meetings with brides, cleaned out the leftovers in the fridge, read an article on kitchen updates, and rearranged my email folders. My Mom is saying: "Sherry, you didn't used to get out of bed until 10!
Women's lives seem to go this way. Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote in 1955:
For life today in America is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication...that involves myriad demands...My mind reels with it. What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. Look at us. We run a tight rope daily...still under control.
That was written 55 years ago. Look at us today!
So I wish to share with you a little saintly advice...
Prayer to Our Lady of Deadlines
Hear me in my urgent plea that I may survive the ravages of extreme deadlines. Banish all thoughts of procrastination from my mind, and give me the strength to endure endless hours of time pressure without all the ill-effects of stress. Release me from the power of the clock tick, tick, ticking away. And with the most fervent desire of my soul I ask that I make it through this deadline without tearing out all my hair or losing my mind once again.
(I found this on a candle from Every Day Icons in Shoreline, WA from 2000)
So, give yourself time each day to do the tasks which need to get done...work, family, wedding planning, and all else. Give yourself time too to rest when you need so you can recharge.
As for me? At noon I am going to take my daughter out for a cup of coffee, and this evening we are having dinner with family. What doesn't get done will still be there the greet me tomorrow morning. All is well.
Rev. Sherry
As part of our continued growth and ongoing desire to be supportive to our couples; both before the wedding and as your marriage unfolds, we have invited a few friends and colleagues to receive our free blog updates by email.
You will get a good idea of the variety of topics we will share if you look at the Posts by Category headings located in the lower right-hand section of our main blog page. For now, you will just see titles there. In the coming days, I will be re-sorting our current posts so you can easily find these in the categries that may be of interest to you. Upcoming blog entries will also fall into these categories.
Feel free to share our blog entries by email or social networking if you wish to share something with a friend. As always, we are not trying to sell anything to you, so of course you may un-subscribe at any time. But stay with us for a bit and see what you may find; whether you are planning your wedding, newly married, or have an interest in relationships and couples.
Be Well,
Rev. Sherry
Did you know that A Joyful Celebration! is a member of AFWPI? Not only are they a professional organization that keeps us up to date on the latest wedding trends, they have services for our brides as well. Below you will see how AFWPI might help make your wedding and honeymoon planning easier and more cost effective. Click on any link to be taken directly to their home page. Happy Planning!
Bride Information & Tips
Bridal Shows
Directory of Members
Destination Wedding Survey
Honeymoons & Promotions
Contest for Top Photographers
Hotel Lists
Be Well,
Rev. Sherry
Tom and I went to an Awards Dinner last weekend, and I must say we were looking pretty good together! Unfortunately, my Associate Minister, Rev Graham, had taken so many pictures at a wedding rehearsal the night before that my camera battery died before I could get a picture! But oh well...
Why am I telling you this? To let you in on my little secret. That night, I wore a brand new with tags BCBG cocktail dress, a pair of Cole Haan shoes, and a Jones New York overcoat that looked great. I figured I was wearing about $900 worth of designer between those three pieces. I actually paid exactly $110 for all of it.
How? I have a few favorite resale women's clothing stores I visit regularly. And I find sometimes I can get a good deal on a good piece of clothing or shoes at places like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or Nordstrom Rack. I even have brides find good casual wedding dresses or bridesmaid dresses at JC Penny stores.
This is also how I find almost all of my little black officiant suits and dresses that I wear for your wedding ceremonies...
The thing is, sometimes you have to dedicate a little time to figuring out which stores carry the styles you love to wear; and even then you may not find one thing on one visit, and another time you may find three pieces that turn out to be just what you were looking for. But you could have a ton of fun if you made an afternoon of this with your bridesmaids, or your mom and sister...
If you want to contact me for a list of my favorite spots, along with the tricks I have found to get additional discounts at these stores, just contact us!
Be Well,
Rev. Sherry