Vicki's Blog

I just read the best story. Adam Hatfield and Julie Brockman were having pre-ceremony shots taken on a sunny spot overlooking the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. They didn’t notice a little girl walking on the levee path with her grandfather. But suddenly they heard the grandfather shouting the little girl’s name and the photographer began running toward the sound. Adam took off running as well and when he and the phtographer, Russ Konrad, got to the levee wall they could see the grandfather in the water, six feet below. He had grabbed the girl and was keeping her afloat while treading water. Adam yelled to Julie to go get help so she took of running in her wedding dress, 3′ train and 2″ heels. The two men were attempting to pull the grandfather and the child to safety when a passing jogger that Julie had stopped, reached down to help. A policeman arrived shortly and, in the meantime, the girl and her grandfather had been wrapped in the white sheet that the photographer had brought to protect Julie’s gown from the grass. After they had warmed back up the grandfather hurried home with his granddaughter.

You can imagine how surprised the bridesmaids and groomsmen were when they came for the session. Apparently the bride had been stressing earlier over all the last-minute details but now was totally calm. Helping to save someone’s life had put everything into perspective for her.

I trust something this drastic won’t happen to any of our brides but the lesson is the same: Keep your wedding plans in perspective and remember to be aware of what’s going on with everyone else around you. That will make all the events surrounding your wedding lots more fun for everyone.

Kudos to Adam and Julie and many blessings on their marriage.

Wow, what a Show we had last Saturday!  It was a record-setting attendance of 2700 people with 114 exhibitors!  I’ve been so busy following up that I haven’t stopped to thank all the brides and their friends and families that attended the Show.  So thank you on behalf of myself and all the wonderful exhibitors who were there.  I know it was crowded, so if there was someone you wanted to visit with and weren’t able to, please go to their link on the Show website and contact them.  They would love to set up a consultation time with you.

We sent out a survey to all the brides-to-be.  If you received one and filled it out, thank you.  If you haven’t filled yours out yet it would be so helpful to us if you would take a few minutes to do that.  We want to make The Tulsa Wedding Show better and better all the time!  One thing we forgot to ask was, of those of you who knew there was a shuttle service from the Target parking lot to the Renaissance Hotel and did not use it, why not?  We are trying to find a solution to our parking challenge and thought that was it, but only a small percentage of people used it.  If you have some insight for us on that I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Vicki

Wow, the weather is all anyone is talking about.  That “blizzard” we had at Christmas has everyone totally paranoid.   Strange, because everywhere we went on Christmas day and the day after was packed with cars!  Everyone was slipping and sliding around the mall parking lot and the theaters were jammed with people.  Seems we’ll manage to go wherever we want to regardless.   It is really cold though, and I wanted to let everyone know that we will have a shuttle service for the Show Saturday.  You can park on the west side of Target (the side closest to Hwy. 169) and Party Express Bus or the Renaissance Hotel Shuttle will pick you up and take you to the Convention Center entrance.  I’ll see you all warm and cozy in the Renaissance Grand Ballroom on Saturday!

KBEZ and KHITS are The Tulsa Wedding Show’s radio sponsors and I am going to Renda Broadcasting Studios tomorrow morning to be interviewed by Carly Rush.  We should go on about 8:40.  Usually Steve Smith is there as well and we have alot of fun.  I’ll tell them about the 110 exhibitors, the prizes worth over $15,000, the cake samples, the fashion shows – and that each bride and groom who pre-registers will get two chances to win one of the 4 prize packages.  Tune in!

I hear that Christmas is the #1 time that people get engaged.   If you are one of those people, Congratulations!  Did your future groom pop the question in a unique way?  Or was it  simple and sweet like an ornament box hanging on the tree with a ring inside?  (I’d love to hear the story!) In any case you have a really fun year or so of planning ahead of you and The Tulsa Wedding Show is here to help.   On Sat. Jan 9 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel you can find every single service you need and some you didn’t know you needed.  There is everything from what everyone has to have at their wedding like photography, videography,  flowers and a great venue to a service that specializes in childcare during all your wedding-related events, Kids at Play.  And not just one of each category but several in different price ranges.

You might be feeling overwhelmed right now; most everyone does.  Take a deep breath and make a note to visit the many event planners at the Show.  You might not know this but they can do as much or as little for you as you need them to do,  from full services (planning, decorating, soup-to-nuts!) to just helping on the day of the ceremony.  There are more than 105 exhibitors at the Show this year and you can link over to all of their websites from the Exhibitor list.  They are listed by category and alphabetically.  A lot of ladies have found it very helpful to make a list of the exhibitors they absolutely don’t want to miss.  You can even map out your visit by the using the show floor diagram on the Bridal Show page.   And don’t forget to pre-register while you’re here!

These exhibitors love brides and love weddings and are devoting themselves in the days before the Show to making everything perfect for your visit to their booth.  We’ll see you there!

Get ready to get the V.I.B. (Very Important Bride) treatment! I’m so excited to have 110 exhibitors lined up for the Show on the 9th. You should know that they are all working hard, even over Christmas, planning how to show off all the great things they do. And it’s all for you!

The Tulsa Wedding Merchants Group had their Dec. meeting last Thursday at the Integrity Lighting Showroom. Their lighting setup is fabulous and you’ll be able to see it at the Show. They are doing all the lighting for the fashion shows. There were almost 50 people there, all of them wedding merchants, and we had a great time talking about how to serve brides and their families. Lindi Collins from The Bridal Garden did beautiful table arrangements, TulsaPeople Weddings brought the food and Route 66 Photobooths brought their photobooth. It wasn’t nearly all business, however. We had just as much fun with the photobooth as the guests at your reception will. There were boas flying and crazy hats and sunglasses galore. I had to drag quite a few camera-shy people into the booth but somehow, once they were there, they had as much fun as anyone. And then we had some great pictures to take home. I have some on my desk as I type and enjoy looking at the crazy pictures of me in the elf hat and Pam Smith of Global Dream Vacations with a purple hat and a pink boa. And then there’s the one of my husband in a red hat and me wearing a Christmas bulb headband, red boa and a poinsettia wrist corsage made of balloons from James at Amazing Balloon Creations. I could go on but you know the saying, “What happens in the photobooth stays in the photobooth!”

I told you I would let you know how the gingerbread house competition came out. Hard to believe, since we had the best one, but my team lost. We had a crosshatch roof, a licorice walkway and a candy corn fence with beautifully decorated Christmas trees . . . somehow the judge (a neighbor) liked the one with the big red hard candies on the roof better. Go figure! Anyway, I’m not bitter. Just determined to beat everyone next year.

We all went to the Philbrook last night to see the Festival of Trees and the Glow. The best part for us was the gingerbread houses, of course! We made notes of all the building materials that were used that were new to us. If you haven’t seen the trees and the stockings (one by our own Steve Smith, DJ at KBEZ) and the sculptures and the gingerbread houses, don’t miss it. The museum is open late on Thursdays and Sundays until Christmas.

On a sad note, a precious colleague, who has been in the wedding community for many years, died suddenly last Tues. Her name was Talesa Samuel and I knew her when she worked at the Renaissance Hotel. She may have helped some of you with your weddings. She was only 38 years old and had 3 young children. My mother, who is 78, went back to St. Louis after spending a week with us. I will miss her being here and can’t help but wonder how many more visits we have. That’s because of her age but, in reality, we don’t know how much time we have with any of our loved ones, young or old.

I know it sounds trite, but it’s true anyway, that we should enjoy each day we have with the people we love. When my mother is gone I will wish I worked less and visited her more. Talesa and I were supposed to have had lunch together after she moved to the Doubletree but we never did. And now we never can. So meet for lunch, sit and talk, color with the kids and listen attentively. These are some of the things that are important from an eternal perspective.

Just have to tell you about our weekend. My husband Rod and I flew to Houston last Thurs. afternoon to attend the Tradeshow Week’s Fastest 50 Awards ceremony and conference. Our Aug. ‘08 Show was one of the recipients and we had a fabulous time! We’ve been “wined and dined” a time or two in our lives but never like this! We kept wondering if they had made a mistake because every time we turned around someone was giving us something. The city of Houston left a great gift bag, strawberries and dip . . well, I’m embarrassed to say it was absolutely over the top and everything was spectacular. What else would you expect from a group that was putting on an event for people who put on tradeshows! We came back with wonderful memories and a very heavy clear glass award.

While we were there it so happened that the Nutcracker Market was going on. It is a show that happens every year and is put on as a benefit for the Houston Ballet. It was huge with hundreds of exhibitor booths and a total overload experience. I was only there for about an hour and a half, which was a laughably short time to actually shop the show so I mostly walked around and looked at the booths from a tradeshow producer’s point of view. Very interesting stuff and I learned alot. I also saw many of the same things we can get here. One unique booth had some gorgeous (pricey of course), handmade beaded purses and they had a bridal line. You would enjoy seeing them. They are at Laura Lee Designs and show up fairly well on the website.

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are having a houseful, including my Mom from St. Louis, and our second annual Gingerbread House competition. I’ll let you know how it comes out!

I was lucky to get to read the paper this morning. If I get to it at all it is in the evening or the next day. I was really glad I got to it early today because when I opened the Scene section I saw a familiar face. Arin Zinke of Zinke Design was featured in an article entitled, “A Tale of Two Sisters”. I know Arin because she is an extraordinary event planner whose company has participated in the Show several times. She and her sister Jessie have started their own line of lingerie and it’s being carried by stores across the country. I called Arin to congratulate her and commented on how fast it all seemed to have happened. I should have known better! She laughed as all successful people do when someone says something like that, because they have months and years of hard work to look back on before the results started coming in. She also told me that they have several beautiful designs tailored toward weddings. So Congratulations, Arin, on another milestone in a career I look forward to continuing to follow.

To find Zinke Design intimates and loungewear here in Tulsa, get in touch with Deborah Croisant, owner of Muse Intimates in Utica Square.

OK, I’m totally vindicated. My favorite cake won! I’m sure the Sugar Art Show director, Kerry Vincent, will be calling soon to line me up as a judge for next year’s show! Just kidding there of course, but it was exciting to see a big photo of my favorite cake in the Tulsa World this morning. Seeing it in person was far superior, but you can get an idea looking at the photo. It was created by Mercedes Strachwsky from Orlando, Florida and this was the first time she has ever entered the show.

All the winners were fabulous and the second runner-up was created by Robin Van Hoozer from our own state. (Oklahoma City, but we can forgive her for that!) Congratulations, Robin!

These winners have put in more hours than we can imagine practicing making every starfish, mermaid, shell and piece of coral on these cakes. They’ve drawn and perfected the design for months. What an accomplishment! And they must love every minute of it, because the possibility of a little prize money doesn’t have enough motivation to make you work that hard. And this all comes from the foundation of wanting to create the most spectacular wedding cake in the world. Hey, weddings really are special occasions!