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Colin Cowie appearance at ABC Conference 2008

Special Moments — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:36:33 +0000

The entire Special Moments Team attended the Association of Bridal Consultants annual conference 2008 in California in November. ( You can read the day by day activities of our team along with pictures in the November blog entries) We have included a brief video below of the conference, which includes Colin Cowie’s fabulous luncheon. Enjoy!

ABC Annual Conference 2008- Day 3 -November 11th, 2008

Special Moments — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:26:06 +0000

The Tuesday night last event of the Conference was the OC Seaside Soiree. It was held at the Ocean Institute located in Dana Point Harbor. We were transported by chartered motorcoaches to the Institute.( 45 minute drive). The food was set-up in stations for the attendees that consisted of a Mini grill cheese and tomato soup station, seared ahi-tuna station served on a bed of specialty cole-slaw, martini glass salad station and a beef short ribs with mashed potato station. The specialty drinks consisted of California-tini’s , mojito’s and maragrita’s. There was also a photobooth to dress up and get photos taken. We had a great time playing in the photo booth, enjoying the beautiful oceanside and dancing the night away to the Dj. We made it all the way until the end of the party and were sad when we realized it was all over and that we would spend all of Wednesday traveling home. Enjoy the pictures from the photobooth and the pictures of the event that we took also.

ABC Annual Conference 2008- Day 3 -November 11th, 2008

Special Moments — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:12:26 +0000

After such an exciting Lunch it was hard to top that for the rest of the conference. We finished up the end of the conference with an interactive session. We were divided up into teams of 8 and were given a description of a Bride’s dream for her wedding along with location, theme she would like, etc.. We had 30 minutes to design an inspiration board of the client’s dream with the materials they supplied us with our what we could borrow from another team. It was a great experience and we got to meet a few new consultants from Illinois. ( Which is the state the conference is being held next year.) We do not have a picture of our finished board, but I have attached a few boards that are similiar to what we created below. After this session, the conference was officially brought to a close. The Special Moments team got ready for the last event that night. That will be in the next posting for you to hear about. Enjoy the pictures below of sample storyboards or as most brides know them … Inspiration boards…

ABC Annual Conference 2008- Day 3 -November 11th, 2008

Special Moments — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:03:03 +0000

After the Master’s Breakfast, we had breakout sessions to attend from Practice Makes Perfect Wedding Rehearsals to Exploring Opportunities with corporate members. The best part of Tuesday was the lunch and the speaker. Colin Cowie was the speaker for the lunch and we got the opportunity to hear his presentation on how he designs and manages his events. We were treated to a slideshow of the before and after pictures of his events along with renderings with the clients to the finished products. ABC conference attendees also had the opportunity to bid on a chance to shadow Colin for the day on one of his events. The bidding ended at $ 10,000 dollars and 13 ABC consultants jumped at the opportunity and the money that Colin raised was donated back to ABC for the Miss Dorothy Scholarship Fund. The luncheon decor was amazing and we have included many pictures below of the luncheon decor along with pictures of Colin Cowie speaking as close as we could get to him. We do have one picture that is most special to us we have included first. The Special Moments team ( Tammy, Erin and Krissy) with Colin Cowie as he signed our books for us. The gallery will follow after the Special Picture.

The linens for the luncheon were supplied by Wildflower Linens the favors were supplied by Kate Aspen and the florals were supplied by 3 different floral companies- Three Petals, Elegant By Design and Mille Fiori . The menus and programs were supplied by Ink Invitations .The signature cakes that were designed for the luncheon were unique in themselves and we have also included pictures of all of the cakes that were designed by The Cake Studio . We were totally impressed and already have ideas to share with all of our Special Moments Brides on decor , menu cards, table numbers, etc… Enjoy:

ABC Annual Conference 2008-Day 3-November 11th, 2008

Special Moments — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:47:40 +0000

On Day 3 the conference opened with a Master’s Breakfast, which consisted of a Master Bridal Consultant at each table and 9 conference attendees.The breakfast was located in the tent that was set-up on the property of the Faimount Hotel. The breakfast was sponsored by the ABC state of Arizona’s Team along with the linens being suplied by BBJ linens. It was Open seating for the breakfast so Erin and Tammy choose Shay Freeman’s table(Master Bridal Consultant from Little Rock Arkansas) and we have included some pictures below of the the Master’s Breakfast set-up and decor and also a picture of Shay doing the Barbara Wallace Camera Couture pose.

ABC Annual Conference 2008- Day 2 -November 10th, 2008

Special Moments — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:53:54 +0000

On Monday at the Conference, we had a continental breakfast and then the conference opened with a Brief synopsis of ABC from the Association President – David Wood.

David Wood

After the ABc briefing on things coming up in the world of ABC and the new website being finished and all of the great tools on there and benefits the Association has to offer to all of the members, we had a 10 minute break and then back to the Ballroom for a seminar presented by Barbara Wallace called Camera Couture. She explained about how to look your best for the camera and how to pose for the camera, etc… Off to the Tradeshow to see what deals corporate members have to offer us to pass on to our Brides. We found a few new things and are excited to share these with our upcoming 2009 Brides. Then after a full morning, we were treated to a wonderful luncheon ( That Krissy was a team leader on and helped set this room for lunch) and a couture fashion show. We have included the decor shots and table set-ups below along with new ideas in our heads on how to create these ideas locally for our Brides. California Couture right here in Florida. Enjoy the pictures below:

After Lunch we had our 10 minute topic sessions and then the conference was finished for the evening and there was an optional off site trip that we opted out of and chose to have a quiet dinner on the Balboa penisula at a quaint little restaurant on the water. It was located near the Famous Cannery Restaurant.

ABC Annual Conference 2008 -Day 1 -November 9th, 2008

Special Moments — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:29:41 +0000

We woke up on Sunday rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to take on the world. Krissy had to get an early start and help stuff conference bags and set-up registration for the conference. Erin and Tammy went over to help also with assembling the pages in the conference binders. We were able to convince Bill to get a shot of the 3 of us at the Fairmount before all of the work started.

Erin,Tammy, & Krissy at the Fairmount Hotel in Newport Beach, California

After lunch , the conference officially opened with the Tradeshow and some optional seminars. Erin went off to the Sandals Training, Krissy was headed off to set-up for the opening night cocktail party and Tammy headed to the Kate Aspen seminar ( Way cool favors and we have samples to share) and also to assist Krissy with set-up for the cocktail reception. The linens were donated for the cocktail reception by one of our favorite vendors in Florida- Coast to Coast Event Rentals. We were nice enough to bring all of the linens in 2 suitcases on the plane with us. We will not offer that service next time. Do you know how heavy linens are in a suitcase? Try 100 pounds of linens…

The opening cocktail reception was held poolside on the 3rd floor of the Fairmount. Sunday evening’s cocktail reception consisted of pink boas hanging from all of the plants and chairs as you arrived. We had a rum bar with specialty rum drinks and also a bar that had wine and beer available for non-rum drinkers. We had a game show contest going on sponsored by Get Married where you could win prizes and trips if you wanted to be a contestant. They had passed appetizers that consisted of bruschetta, ( Erin and Bill’s Favorite) spanokopita, black bean quesadillas & a make your mashed potato bar with all kinds of yummy toppings. The evening’s dessert was this amazing cake with the ABC logo on it. We Have included a few pictures below of the cocktail party to enjoy.

Association of Bridal Consultants – Central Florida West LNG Meeting

Special Moments — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:29:07 +0000

On July 24th we were in attendance at a Local Networking Meeting for The Association of Bridal Consultants at the Sandpearl Resort. The Resort was absolutely beautiful and hope to work with Kathy Demarco in the future. We were honored to have Brides.com’s account executive, Aymee Sutterby as our guest speaker. She was very informative and brought some new ideas to the meeting about branding and marketing. Seeing a few new fresh faces was a treat. I hope to see them all at future meetings and definetly at the State Conference on August 23rd and 24th at the fabulous Hilton Carillion.

: Beautifulweddingsphotography.com

: Beautifulweddingsphotography.com

: Beautifulweddingsphotography.com

Thank you to all the vendors that helped put this meeting together!

Chuck – Tampabaydj.com
Jenny – Flowersbyjenny.com
Toni – Connieduglinlinen.com
Kathy – Sandpearlresort.com
Marley – Beatifulweddingsphotography.com

Not Just for Novices workshop

Special Moments — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:39:06 +0000

Special Moments just recently attended/taught a workshop in St. Augustine, Florida about how to get started as a wedding planner and market your business thru the Association of Bridal Consultants.

The workshop was taught by Tammy Waterman from Special Moments and Lisa Burnett from Elegant Weddings by Lisa.

It was a very long day, but there were fun things along the way like someone had lipstick on the coffee mug, and someone found a ladybug in their salad, yeah a ladybug.

We weren’t expecting to learn anything from this , but we found out what a mandap (a chuppah like arch for indian weddings) is and that $35.95pp/++ is the per person plus tax and gratuity.

St. Augustine is really nice, but we couldn’t wait to get back to St. Petersburg, because we were in the tropical storm through the whole time we were there. No sight seeing for us.

Association of Bridal Consultants Annual Conference 2007

Special Moments — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:39:10 +0000

As you all know or if you don’t know yet… Tammy Waterman the owner of Special Moments was on the 2007 Annual Conference Committee for the Association Of Bridal Consultants . She spent an entire year helping plan , chair and organize key parts of the Conference. This involved monthly trips to Orlando ( the location of the 2007 conference) and many a day on the phone, computer, etc getting things finalized. ( Thanks to all of our brides for your patience and understanding if you even knew=)Her positions were, Opening Cocktail Reception Committee chair, Table top Reality Chair and Sponsorship/Donation committee. Tammy also received her designation of Accredited Bridal Consultant and became one of 6 in Florida and the only one in the Tampa Bay Area.

The 2007 Annual Conference was a huge success and was also a record setting year for the Association.There were over 500 people registered for the Conference and in attendance.

We have included pictures below for you of the cocktail reception and a few from the Table Top reality. Enjoy!

This also shows that Special Moments is keeping up on the newest trends and continuing our education thru the Associations we belong to. So you can rest assured you have hired professionals when you hire Special Moments.