Linnyette Richardson Hall is the Owner and Creative Director of Premiere Event Management, a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant, fun and personality-oriented events.  She is the Special Contributing Editor of the two book series Going to the Chapel (Penguin Putnam 1998) which was created for couples who are in the wonderful process of planning their nuptials. Formerly, Linnyette was Contributing Editor for Signature Bride Magazine and Columnist for WeddingChannel.com. American television audiences are able to see her work her "wedding magic" as one of the featured consultants on the hit reality television series, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" which airs weekly on The Style Network.

Linnyette has been in the wedding industry since 1993 and has planned hundreds of weddings for brides & grooms locally and on a nationwide basis. Linnyette’s expertise has been featured in many local and national publications such as Glamour, Essence & Black Enterprise magazines, The Washington Post as well as appearing on CNN, FOX News, CBS and a host of other media outlets.

The Stylish Planner is so pleased to have Linnyette as a contributing guest blogger!  I feel her “tell it like it is” personality combined with her years of wedding and event planning experience make her feature a “must read”.  The feature is aptly titled “DIVA Day”, and will be posted on the first Wednesday of every month!

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There’s More To Life…

than just being the wedding planner.  Don’t get me wrong..I love what I do and I’m sure most of you do also.  I’ve always been of the notion that in order to be the best, to be at the top of your game, your focus has to have varying levels.  Wedding planning requires that we become multi-faceted powerhouses who can literally do 5 things at once without skipping a beat.  We can handle the BlackBerry and IPhones, while managing a production timeline on our IPads, confer with vendors and critically “eye” the setup of a reception venue – all at the SAME time.

Outside of weddings, what’s your life like?  Do you have other interests and hobbies that are NOT industry related – perhaps you enjoy gardening,  a good game of poker,  reading trashy romance novels or indulging your wanderlust and traveling to far flung locales?  If you are allowing the wedding business to consume you, it’s time to shake things up a bit!  Breathing, sleeping, and eating weddings doesn’t make you better at what you do..it makes you a cranky individual because you don’t have any other outlets to flow into.  Hey, I love a gorgeous bouquet or a decadently beautiful wedding cake just as much as any other planning professional, but over the years, I’ve become SMART enough to know that I can’t let the business of matrimony be the ONLY thing in my life. 

There are only 52 weekends in a year…and I most certainly am not interested in working every single one of them.  Once in a while, I want to kick back with a Hennessy and Coke on the rocks, put my feet up with a good book and lose myself in whatever is happening on those pages.  Chasing after chicas in white gowns every weekend?  Nope.  I’ve got some totally adorable kittens and cats who want and need my attention.  Figuring out what color will complement Pantone’s “Honeysuckle”?  Well..yeah, I could, but I can also save that for my time in the office.  When it’s quitting time, I’d rather roam through the aisles at Home Depot, thinking about what tile I want to use for the new backsplash in my kitchen.

The point I’m trying to make is simple – step away from the satin and tulle so you can develop a richer life.  I know it’s hard when you’re first starting out because this baby is YOUR baby – you want it to grow and become a productive adult.  And when you’ve been in the trenches for a minute, you feel as if you MUST stay entwined in the business or somehow it will go away.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When you allow yourself to do other things , when you start to develop and maintain other interests and pastimes OUTSIDE of the wedding sphere, you are actually becoming a BETTER planner.  Because you can see past the mundane, typical and obvious – it sharpens your mind and gives you another way to see outside of the box. 

In short – get a life!!  Your wedding business and your clients will thank you for it!

This post was previously published on October 6, 2010.

Linnyette Richardson Hall is the Owner and Creative Director of Premiere Event Management, a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant, fun and personality-oriented events.  She is the Special Contributing Editor of the two book series Going to the Chapel (Penguin Putnam 1998) which was created for couples who are in the wonderful process of planning their nuptials. Formerly, Linnyette was Contributing Editor for Signature Bride Magazine and Columnist for WeddingChannel.com. American television audiences are able to see her work her "wedding magic" as one of the featured consultants on the hit reality television series, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" which airs weekly on The Style Network.

Linnyette has been in the wedding industry since 1993 and has planned hundreds of weddings for brides & grooms locally and on a nationwide basis. Linnyette’s expertise has been featured in many local and national publications such as Glamour, Essence & Black Enterprise magazines, The Washington Post as well as appearing on CNN, FOX News, CBS and a host of other media outlets.

The Stylish Planner is so pleased to have Linnyette as a contributing guest blogger!  I feel her “tell it like it is” personality combined with her years of wedding and event planning experience make her feature a “must read”.  The feature is aptly titled “DIVA Day”, and will be posted on the first Wednesday of every month!

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Size Matters..Or Does It?

I’m one of those people who thinks you can be stylishly wonderful, no matter what the tag on the inside of your clothing says.  The "average" woman in the United States is a size 14, which is wildly contradictory to all of the media hype which touts the notion of the "lollipop girls" – you know, the ones with the tiny bodies and big heads who look like they could use a ham sandwich…

What I have come to learn over the years is that image matters more – not the size you are.  As wedding planners, we are in a "style conscious" industry and fashion surrounds us on a daily basis.  This means that we’ve got to have the "package" in place..from hair to makeup, clothing to accessories, we should always strive for a totally pulled together look.  Speaking as a size 16, I am constantly on the hunt for items that define my personal style (classically trendy) as well as resources that cater to us curvy beauties.  You can be the best darned wedding planner in the known universe, but hey..if you look as if you’ve just tumbled out of bed, chances are no one is going to take you and your abilities seriously.

Image really does start within.  A lot of women have a "notion" in their heads that if they get smaller, life will be better and the grass is greener on the other side.  It doesn’t work that way.   Once you get to a point where you love yourself (no matter the size), crafting your own unique style becomes a lot easier.  I’ve learned how to focus on my assets (great eyes and chest) and work what I’ve got.  For me, having those "killer" eyes that can nail you at twenty paces, along with curves that go "boom" are a part of my image.  Sexy can be classy and sharp…when you know how to enhance that feeling.  Even though I’m a professional, I still let my inner "femininity" shine.    And you know what?  People respond positively – I’m always getting compliments as well as inquiries…they want to know where I find my "stuff"!!

A long time ago…I used to worry incessantly about being double digits when it came to my dress size.  And then, I had an epiphany.  Whether I’m a 6 or a 16 does not matter – how I am on the inside and how I allow my "light" to shine does.  Once we learn how to get past those insecurities, I think we’ll all be in a better place.  So……embrace what you have.  Love it constantly.  Adorn it often. Look in the mirror EVERY day and say "Darling – you look mahvelous!!!"

Until next time………………………………..

Linnyette Richardson Hall is the Owner and Creative Director of Premiere Event Management, a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant, fun and personality-oriented events.  She is the Special Contributing Editor of the two book series Going to the Chapel (Penguin Putnam 1998) which was created for couples who are in the wonderful process of planning their nuptials. Formerly, Linnyette was Contributing Editor for Signature Bride Magazine and Columnist forWeddingChannel.com. American television audiences are able to see her work her "wedding magic" as one of the featured consultants on the hit reality television series, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" which airs weekly on The Style Network.

Linnyette has been in the wedding industry since 1993 and has planned hundreds of weddings for brides & grooms locally and on a nationwide basis. Linnyette’s expertise has been featured in many local and national publications such as Glamour,Essence & Black Enterprise magazines, The Washington Post as well as appearing on CNN, FOX News, CBS and a host of other media outlets.

The Stylish Planner is so pleased to have Linnyette as a contributing guest blogger! I feel her “tell it like it is” personality combined with her years of wedding and event planning experience make her feature a “must read”! The feature is aptly titled “DIVA Day”, and will be posted on the first Wednesday of every other month!

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Exit Strategy

Summer is upon us and for many in the professional wedding planning sector, it’s SHOWTIME!  For the next 3 months or so (depending on your geographical location), nuptial celebrations are on your weekly “to do” list and just like Bill Murray’s character in “Groundhog Day”, every weekend will have you hitting the alarm clock and headed out to do what you do best!

So why is this installment of DIVA Day entitled “Exit Strategy”?  It’s quite simple, really – for all of the planning we do for our clients, how many of you have sat down and clearly thought about how you will “retire” from the uber-hectic world of wedding planning & consulting?  Retirement?  Are you kidding me??  (Yes – I can hear the exclamations now).  But, it’s a worthwhile thought pattern to start formulating – no matter where you are on the experience spectrum.  Do you really want to be the 75 year old wedding planner having to chase down chicks in white dresses EVERY single weekend or would you rather be the 60 year old planner who makes the graceful exit after leaving her mark on the wedding world?

In my former life B.W.P. {before wedding planning}, I worked in financial services and my job was to help people make money on their investments as well as get them started/entrenched in a good, solid retirement plan.  What I learned from that very storied experience is that thinking ahead makes TOTAL SENSE.  I’ve been a wedding planner since 1993, so I’m now in my 18th year of “making the magic happen”.  I’m also turning 50 in December and will be the first to say that the mindset and physical capabilities of the 32 year old planner are vastly different than my current almost-a-half-century iteration.  It is what it is.

I got into this field because I loved everything (and still do!) about it.  I also got into it because my entrepreneurial spirit led me here…knowing that it would be a good fit for me.  I did not come into the business expecting to stay here forever – my theory has always been that everything has it proper season, time and place…and as a good, forward-thinking businesswoman, I have to know when to say “when”.  The same applies to all of you.  Planning the veritable “exit strategy” means that you will have to face one hard reality – you’re not going to be doing this for the rest of your life.  And for many, that will be a very, very hard pill to swallow. 

Don’t fret – look at your strategy sessions as building blocks for an even more richer, productive future.  Think about where you want to be when you are 40, 50, 60 and beyond.  Imagine the life you wish to have, complete with all of the creature comforts you love and have grown accustomed to as well as insuring that your financial future is in the bank.  It’s never too early to start planning for the rest of your life – the key is to be realistically smart.   While you may “retire” from the day-to-day operations of your business, now is the perfect time to nurture and cultivate a great staff who can run the show for you.  It also never hurts to stick your well-manicured tootsies back in to the water….for us true, blue wedding planners – the hunger to create never ends.  I’ve been working on my personal exit strategy for a while now and it’s finally starting to take root.  The end result will be a gorgeous, magnificently blooming lifestyle that I will love, honor and cherish.  Oh…and I’ll still be making money doing what brings me joy – just on another level.

So, if you haven’t starting thinking about how you’ll be getting “out”, there’s no time like the present.  Review your retirement plans/investments, think about more in-depth training for your interns/associates (if you have them).  And if you’re pretty much running solo – now is the perfect opportunity to start bringing like-minded folks into your atmosphere.  They’ll be a blessing now and in your future game plans.  Create a list of what you really WANT your future to look like – then go ahead and make it happen.  And by the way, all of this planning is not an “end”.  I want you to look at how the possibilities and new beginnings your current career can bring to an even richer one in your distant future.

Allow me to leave you with one of my life’s “mantras”:

“If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavor to live the life that you have imagined, you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”
-Henry David Thoreau

Linnyette Richardson Hall is the Owner and Creative Director of Premiere Event Management, a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant, fun and personality-oriented events.  She is the Special Contributing Editor of the two book series Going to the Chapel (Penguin Putnam 1998) which was created for couples who are in the wonderful process of planning their nuptials. Formerly, Linnyette was Contributing Editor for Signature Bride Magazine and Columnist forWeddingChannel.com. American television audiences are able to see her work her "wedding magic" as one of the featured consultants on the hit reality television series, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" which airs weekly on The Style Network.

Linnyette has been in the wedding industry since 1993 and has planned hundreds of weddings for brides & grooms locally and on a nationwide basis. Linnyette’s expertise has been featured in many local and national publications such as Glamour,Essence & Black Enterprise magazines, The Washington Post as well as appearing on CNN, FOX News, CBS and a host of other media outlets.

The Stylish Planner is so pleased to have Linnyette as a contributing guest blogger! I feel her “tell it like it is” personality combined with her years of wedding and event planning experience make her feature a “must read”! The feature is aptly titled “DIVA Day”, and will be posted on the first Wednesday of every other month!

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It’s finally starting to look a lot like spring!  I’m happy that “spwinter” { my “made-up” name for this hybrid spring/winter we’ve been having lately} is leaving us and sunnier, warmer days lie ahead!

Whenever I think about spring, one word always comes to mind – rebirth.  And as people in the wedding business, this term is ever so appropriate.  For many, winter is the time of year where less weddings happen (depending on your geographical locale, of course) and we tend to hibernate.  We work on business plans, marketing strategies, forecasts, revenue goals, catching up with vendors and other colleagues – in short, it’s our “down time”.  But with the arrival of spring, the hustle and bustle begins anew and we’re off to the races!  Our weekends start to take on the look and feel of Bill Murray’s hit movie, “Groundhog Day” – where time after time, the proverbial alarm clock (weddings) go off, we hit the button and hit the ground running – hard. 

If you’ve been hibernating positively, you’re very much like a butterfly emerging from it’s cozy cocoon right about now.  You’ve had a chance to rest, to relax and hopefully, to GROW during your nurturing period.  Rest/relax, because the wedding business is so stressfully hard…and grow, since that’s what needs to happen in order to spread your wings and show your true beauty.  Perhaps this season, your colors are brighter and more visible to the eye….because you took time to discover what your niche and particular purpose was in this field.  Maybe your “wingspan” is greater this spring, because during your hibernation, you carefully crafted a more workable marketing and social media presence that will help you make a bigger impact in your area.  Or, it could be that when you take flight into the air, you’ll be soaring more gracefully..since you finally let go and stopped worrying needlessly about what everyone else is doing and decided to concentrate on you and your business.

No matter how you hibernated, now is the time to come out of that delicate shell and show off how wonderfully “made” you are.  Now is the time to go ahead and…….FLY. 

Linnyette Richardson Hall is the Owner and Creative Director of Premiere Event Management, a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant, fun and personality-oriented events.  She is the Special Contributing Editor of the two book series Going to the Chapel (Penguin Putnam 1998) which was created for couples who are in the wonderful process of planning their nuptials. Formerly, Linnyette was Contributing Editor for Signature Bride Magazine and Columnist for WeddingChannel.com. American television audiences are able to see her work her "wedding magic" as one of the featured consultants on the hit reality television series, “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" which airs weekly on The Style Network.

Linnyette has been in the wedding industry since 1993 and has planned hundreds of weddings for brides & grooms locally and on a nationwide basis. Linnyette’s expertise has been featured in many local and national publications such as Glamour, Essence & Black Enterprise magazines, The Washington Post as well as appearing on CNN, FOX News, CBS and a host of other media outlets.

The Stylish Planner is so pleased to have Linnyette as a contributing guest blogger!  I feel her “tell it like it is” personality combined with her years of wedding and event planning experience make her feature a “must read”.  The feature is aptly titled “DIVA Day”, and will be posted on the first Wednesday of every month!

“Santa Baby, slip a sable under the tree…for me.

Been an awful good girl, Santa baby,
So hurry down the chimney tonight. "**

**music lyrics: www.earthakittfanclub.com/sheetmusic.htm

The sultry purr of the amazingly talented songstress & actress, Eartha Kitt, practically strokes you as you listen to the lyrics of this holiday favorite, recorded in 1953.  It’s one of my all time favorites Christmas songs, simply because of the lyrics.  In the song, Eartha is pretty much telling Santa what’s on her list – and that got me to thinking about my own Christmas "requests" for Jolly Ole’ St. Nick!