Vicki's Blog

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!

This is going to be a hard blog to write. How do you describe something so fabulous? Something that has to be seen to be believed? That is the OK Sugar Arts Show at the Tulsa State Fair. What an incredible display! It is the second largest show in the world with the largest amount of prize money. And it centers around wedding cakes. So the most talented sugar artists in the world come here to display their talents and the wedding community of Tulsa gets to be the host. We don’t have to see the cakes on the food network, we can see them in person and what a privilege it is. The theme this year was Sea & Shore and it was interpreted a hundred different ways, There was every manner of sea creature, both real and imagined. Mermaids were everywhere! Seagulls, seashells, tropical flowers and much more, all made from sugar in one form or another and all to show how important wedding cakes are to the celebration of a wedding.

These cake decorators are true artists and their cakes are edible sculptures. If you didn’t get to see them in person go to the Channel 6 website and check out their gallery. They got some great shots. Enjoy!

I talked about giving gifts a couple of weeks ago and something happened today that perfectly illustrates what I was trying to say. We have some dear friends and neighbors whom we have known for about 15 years. They are the kind of people who would do anything for you that you needed so, when Cheryl called me yesterday and asked me if I could drive her into Tulsa to pick up her car I said sure. (We live about 40 min. from her car repair shop.) I was working here at my computer and had never even put makeup on, but I grabbed my tropical pattern baseball cap, (I’ll tell you that story next time) put on some sandals and hopped in the car and we drove into town. I dropped her off and then ran some errands and came back to my home office. No problem, end of story, right? Not quite.

She called today, said she had something for me and would be by in a minute. . . . . Now, here’s something you need to know. I like a nice steak now and again but my husband doesn’t eat beef. Therefore the only time I get a steak is when we go out to eat. Cheryl knows this, of course. Back to the story. . . . She came to my door with a bag in her hand and I immediately began protesting, saying she should not have gotten me anything. And she immediately rebuked me and told me to just accept it graciously. I was properly chastised and opened it. There were several things wrapped in tissue. The first thing I unwrapped was a small green salad in a bowl. I am a little slow so I had no idea what was coming next. The next thing I unwrapped was a raw potato with aluminum foil around it. The light bulb finally started to glow and I knew that the next package was a steak just the right size for one. She had brought me a steak dinner to cook for myself sometime when my husband was out of town!

The whole thing cost less than $10 but is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have every received because she stopped to think about what I like and then was creative in how she gave it to me. She could have waited a week and given me a gift certificate to a steakhouse. That would have cost a lot more and not been nearly as much fun or personal.

Thanks, Cheryl, for being a wonderful example of a thoughtful gift-giver!

Jennifer Edie of Jennifer Lynn’s Timeless Jewelry called me a few weeks ago. She had a small booth in the Show a couple of years ago and told me at that time that if she ever got a storefront location she would be in the Show again. So her call was to let me know that it has happened and she has a wonderful location at 5800 S. Lewis Ave., Suite 157. I love art in general and jewelry in particular because it is a practical art form. You don’t just look at it, you can wear it. And when it is vintage it is often nearly unique, which makes it that much more special.

I always enjoy talking to Jennifer and I love looking at her website. It is obvious that she is very knowledgeable about vintage jewelry and has a passion for it that comes through when she talks to you. I have a piece of hers, a simple ring with a pale blue triangular stone in it – it’s big but I love it! Anyway, she called to say she wanted to be in the Jan. Show. So we chatted for a few minutes about her new store and where her customers were coming from, etc. She said she is getting a lot of people coming in looking for both wedding sets and groom’s rings. I told her how interesting that was and, as we discussed it for a few minutes, realized that it wasn’t surprising. The average age of engaged couples has continually gone up in the past few years and an older bride and groom or second marriages, are probably interested in unique wedding jewelry, something you don’t find in a jewelry store.

Check out her website and stop by her location when you are going by. You will enjoy meeting Jennifer and seeing all the rings, pendants, brooches, bracelets, . . . . . . It’s like a trip to the art museum where Jennifer is the guard – but she says look AND touch!