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Top 3 Ways To Protect Your Wedding INVESTMENT

So, you're engaged and are planning your huge investment on creating a perfect beginning to your happily ever after. Now what?

It's time time to outline the top three ways for you to protect this investment. We get excited when it's time to plan "the day." Through all that excitement, someone in the planning party is thinking about the total investment involved. With the rising cost of weddings and the fluctuation of the market, educated wedding spending should remain at the top of everyone's priority list. After two popular Houston wedding venue's shut their doors without offering any possible recourse for their booked events, this has become a constant subject at the tip of my tongue.

Allow us a few moments to list three simple ways to protect your wedding investment. It's never to late to begin this practice. Whether you have eight months or eight weeks of planning remaining, something on this list can benefit you in protecting your investment.

NUMBER THREE...
Make all of your deposits and wedding purchases by credit card. Making minimum deposits by credit card keeps you with the advantage of being able to dispute charges for services not rendered. If you have made a purchase for a service with a credit card that has not be rendered, simply call your credit card company and dispute the charge(s). When calling your credit card issuer, request a charge back pursuant to the Fair Credit Billing Act. Charges for services that weren't delivered as agreed are covered under this Act. Access the Federal Trade Commission for specifics on this Act.

NUMBER TWO...
This may sound odd, but I'm going to say it anyway. Some vendors may get excited to get payments above and beyond the required deposit amount. I beg to differ and strongly recommend the opposite. Pay only the required deposit to secure your vendor and hold your wedding date. Make all payments as outlined by the agreement. This goes hand in hand with having a good agreement that proper outlines all the terms, conditions, and agreements for both parties (the supplier of services and the recipient of services to be rendered). I don't recommend paying for anything in full that you have yet to receive. If final payment is due two weeks prior to your event, that is when I suggest you schedule your payment. This way you are not out $20K eight months prior to your wedding because your venue decided to shut it's doors and discontinued the telephone lines.

NUMBER ONE...
The number one suggestion for protecting your your wedding expenses (drum roll please): INSURE YOUR EVENT!

That's right... Purchase wedding insurance coverage. Precious Nuptials and Destinations has been in the works of adding a couple optional basic wedding coverage to our full and echo chic planning package for some time now. The couple could always choose to enhance this coverage, but we feel it's absolutely necessary to set the foundation and plant the seed. The state of our economy and all the uncertainty has surly put this wheel into full motion.

In this quest for finding ideal coverage providers to offer our clients, we meet with Jorge Sera of Total Insurance Coverage, LLC back in July. Mr. Sera's services is an ideal fit for what we are looking for. Not only because the coverage options are so diverse, but also because he's local and knows his stuff! I for one, totally connect with the fact of having a local insurance office to write and or source this policy. I don't know about you, but I feel so much better when making important purchases with a physical person verses a web page. Jorge, I hope he doesn't mind me calling him by his first name, is very knowledgeable about his product, protection, and limits. Here's samples of what type of protection this policy can offer:

• Your reception venue went out of business
• Hurricane cause your wedding to be postponed
• Lost or damaged dress
• Lost deposits
• Lost rings
• Transportation shutdown
• Ruined photos
• Call to duty
• Damaged gifts
• Sudden illness
• Venue required insurance
• Liquor liability

Review this sample policy to see if this coverage is right for you. You may also become familiar with the protect plans from Travelers dedicated information site. In short, a few hundred dollars can invest the thousands you'll spend on planning your perfect day. Contact Jorge Sera and allow him to assist you in properly protecting your wedding expenditures.

There it is... It's that simple. Doing these three simple steps can save a lot of headaches and a ton of heartaches.

Also, we understand that our displaced brides my still have a need for wedding planning and coordination services. Precious Nuptials and Destinations will offer proven displaced couples discounted services on a case by case bases. We would love to help everyone, but know that we are not able to. In return, we hope that the three steps listed above will assist couples and their families from being displaced and out thousands to boot. Contact us at: staff[at]preciousnuptials.com for more information.

[Cheers!]

Tuscany of Garden Oaks and Bella Terraza File for Bankruptcy

We were just as shocked as you were to learn that the owners of Bella Terraza and Tuscany of Garden Oaks filed for bankruptcy. Upset and displaced couples and family members gathered outside the building of Bella Terraza seeking answers. Instead, what they found were moving trucks and no one available for comment.

[SIGH]

One couple reported to have been offered a 50% discount if they paid in full by cash and their booking consultation. This same couple didn't have cash and was allowed to put the $5000 on a credit card. Total red flag...

Another website displayed a posting from an angry father who had paid $20K in full for his daughter's special day. Needless to say, no one is available to offer answers, solutions, or even a compromised settlement.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by these sudden chain of events! Many Houston area vendors have stepped up to offer free or discounted services to those unfortunate displaced couples and families. Precious Nuptials and Destinations would like to offer a different solution, not only to these displaced couples, but to everyone planning a wedding in today's economy. Stay tuned as we would like to make our offer on a separate entry.

Location Spotlight:: St. Lucia

We've been busy in so many ways! It's time to catch up on our blogging. We've decided to highlight destination wedding locations. While we're at it, we will also highlight resorts, villas, and key resources along the way. The world is a huge canvas. Here's our drop into the bucket!

St. Lucia lush VIBRANT tropical MOUNTAINS rain forest PRIVATE

St. Lucia has so much to offer the destination wedding crowd. We think St. Lucia will be geared towards the couple that's looking to step away from a heavy tourist travel location, but understands that this is a growing travel hot spot. This island, in recent years, has just began to blossom as popular resorts began to build, advertise, and blossom on the natural beauty St. Lucia has to offer.

Is ease of travel or a direct flight on your list on priorities? If so, this may night be the destination for you. Travelers should not expect to exit the plan and rest their feet on the soil of their ultimate destination. Although travel is not extremely difficult, you may have to take a taxi, small craft, or ferry to get to your ultimate destination. US travelers should research Delta and American Airlines for direct flights to Hewanorra International Airport (HIA) departing from Atlanta, Georgia (ATL) and Miami, Florida (MIA).

An absolute positive is that St. Lucia does not mandate residency requirements for couples wishing to wed on the island. However, couples should allow at least two days to complete the necessary paperwork.

Don't plan on having a summer wedding in St. Lucia. Doing so will expose you to the rain and hurricane season. In our opinion, the best time to travel to this region is from November to April. Rain season begins in June followed by hurricane season. However, travelers can enjoy year round temperatures averaging around eighty degrees. This is also a prime reason why winter travel is peak season for St. Lucia.

Book well in advance to have a good chance at securing better rates. Remember that most hotels and airlines begin to allow bookings 330 days in advance of the first date of travel. You should be prepared to book in this immediate window for best rates. If you're beyond this time frame, don't panic. Just book as soon as it's feasible for you to do so.

You will certainly want to develop a list of things to do while on the island. St. Lucia offers many great group and couple friendly activities. A must have is the only drive through volcano in the world (Mount Soufriere) and Pigeon Island. St. Lucia is filled with plenty of adventure as your list will certainly grow with continued research. From cultural tours to botanical gardens, St. Lucia offers natural beauty and adventure.

As with any destination event, sufficient planning and research should be completed prior to booking. We suggest conducting additional research and contact a seasoned professional once you're sure a destination wedding is right for you.

Stay tuned for details on a St. Lucian location you won't want to miss!

Have you seen Sandals new Preston Bailey wedding additons?

If you're searching for the perfect destination wedding location, you many have an on going list of locations. One thing's for sure, Sandals does a great job at keeping their wedding package designs fresh and new.

It seems like just yesterday when we learned of Scarlett Lillian's photography shoot of Sandals new wedding designs by Preston Bailey! We anxiously awaited the unveil. Well I almost missed it!! Thank you Terrica!

Anywho, I know you've heard all things design magnificent about Preston. He brings to Sandals two brand new designs: Caribbean Sunset and Sea Mist. Caribbean Sunset looks to be a slight upgrade of The Water Lily Collection. Both of these designs offer bright yummy colors. However, the new Caribbean Sunset is a must have! Oh... I just love the bountiful supply of flowers used in the Sea Mist design (both of the new additions come with a nice sized centerpiece). The blue accents perfectly blends with the sky line and the breath taking waters. While the soft whites, pale greens and creams offer a ideal mesh with the beautiful sandy shores. Both of these designs come complete with a Sylvia Weinstock designed cake!

You can count on Sandals to afford you a white gloved luxury destination wedding and honeymoon experience! They did it again...

While you're at it, don't forget to email us for a copy of our Guide to Recession Proofing Your Destination Wedding!

Go platinum!

No, we're not talking about the popular WE network show Platinum Weddings. We are, however, talking about this trend setting color option in wedding gowns!

About a month ago, I assigned my group of interns various story board projects. They were responsible for picking three inspirations and designing boards that would fit budget, moderate and affluent nuptial clients. Brittney's affluent board centered around a platinum designer wedding gown. Her ability to step out of the box is remarkable. She has a beautiful ability to touches on details that will make an impact. This, my friends, is exactly why we're so excited to make her a part of our team. Needless to say, her ideas have been well above expectations. Just a little hint: Brittney used a design pallet centered around platinum and the most perfect blue. It is absolutely gorgeous!

If you're looking for a non-traditional color option for your wedding gown, I'd like to offer you a few designers to peek at: Justin Alexander, Allure Bridals, Mia Solano, Maggie Sottero and Reem Acra. Many of these designers have other tempting color variations. My head is filled with wonderful design ideas centered around these dresses.

At any rate, I've decided to post a few images of designers who have platinum gown options. I tried to include various shades and textures. However, my personal favorites today are those designed with silk taffeta fabric. This is by no means a complete list, but its enough to feed you a little eye candy.

{Justin Alexander}




{Maggie Sottero--Jewel}




{Maggie Sottero--Jasmina}




{Justin Alexander}




{Maggie Sottero--Nouvel}




{Justin Alexander}




{Maggie Sottero--Emmanuelle}




{Justin Alexander}

Our wedding is featured on TheKnot.com

I received a call from my best cyber-buddy (yep... I totally made that word up) Terrica from Fabuluxe Events. She left me the cutest message notifying me that our wedding was featured on The Knot. Thank you Terrica! For those of you who don't know it. Terrica is a fabulous wedding planner located in the Golden Isles of Georgia (a HOT destination wedding spot light). She designs and produces simply stunning work.

Okay, back to The Knot's featured wedding. We worked with Heather for about seven months. Heather opted for a full service planning package. She'd just moved to Lafayette, La. (one of our many service areas) from California and had no idea where to find good quality vendors to pull this wedding off. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to get started. Her preliminary ideas fit well with ours and the rest is history. Not to mention, we had a blast doing so! As you could imagine, our meeting, planning and designing took place across state lines. She'd take a shopping trip to Houston and I'd take planning trips to Lafayette. This was truly an enjoyable event to put together. That, my friends, what planning a wedding should be: fun and enjoyable!

Anywho... take a look! The remarkable Mark Eric was totally responsible for capturing such memorable moments. Thank you Mark!

[cheers!]

Hopping Honeymoon!

With all the attention and detail that goes into planning your wedding, taking a moment to sit down and think about your honeymoon could be a great stress-reliever (not to mention FUN!). So before you push those honeymoon plans to the side, think about this: Honeymoon's today aren't what they were when your parents were getting married! You can really go all out and plan that "once in a life-time" vacation. Make it specific to what your dream vacation would be. Whether it's relaxing on a white sandy beach for five days, or traveling the world, this should be your time to relax and enjoy the first days of your marriage!

  

One up-and-coming trend for honeymoon planning is to visit more than one location during your time off. You can plan a trip to Europe, and visit seven or more countries before heading back home! So for the "on-the-go" couple who would rather see and do more together on their honeymoon, this trend might be for you! 

{photo credit: www.travelwise.com}