LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
Photography: www.wetakecreativepictures.com
Laura and Brett 23 March 2012 Hi Eve, I hope you are well ... I just wanted to send you a note to say THANK YOU for everything that you and your team did on our wedding day! You truly made our dream day into a reality!! Thank you for all the little extras you added that really made it so special .. You took our ideas and really made it reflect "us" .. so a massive *THANK YOU*. We LOVED everything and got SO many compliments on all the decor. I am also so grateful that I got to meet you and work with you! Your ease and calmness really made the process so enjoyable, not too mention your UNBELIEVABLE creative talent!! You are amazing! I hope to keep in touch and one day when Brett and I decide to renew our vows, I'll be sure to call u ;) Wishing you success & blessings in all that you do! Take care .. Much love, Laura (& Brett) xx
Photography: Laura Jane Photography
Jacky and Ronald 25 February 2012 Hi Eve Hope you are well. We got back from honeymoon this past weekend, and it the first day back at work. We just wanted to thank you so much for everything you and your team did, it was beyond my expectations. Today people are still commenting on the décor. Again thank you for everything, and for making it look awesome without the FLOWERS! I told you, you were worrying too much… it was perfect!!! Jacky
Photography: Christiaan David Photography
Milano
Liguria
Dominique & Bryan 3 September 2011 Hi Eve, we just want to say thank you so much for everything! Yesterday was the best day of our lives and we will always treasure every moment :-) We look forward to catching up when we are back from our honeymoon! Dom and Bryan (SMS received on 4 September 2011)
Photography: www.droreyal.co.za
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La Spezia
Monaco
What was the biggest obstacle/s you had to overcome while organising your dream wedding? (What drove you to tears ) Luckily we decided early on to have a wedding planner. Neither Bryan nor I have a lot of time available to organize anything – we both work really long hours and knew that organizing a wedding wasn’t our strong point. So bringing Eve (from Splendid Affairs) on early on in the process made the whole thing a dream! She managed the process so well for us and was so professional and had everything under control so we didn’t have to do much except the fun stuff like menu tasting, cake tasting etc! I am a complete control freak in most areas of my life so I knew that the best way to maintain my sanity was to let someone else micro-manage this for me so that I could enjoy the experience! I found it really fun picking out ideas and things I liked and then handing it over to a professional to turn it into a reality for me! The thing that we probably found most stressful were the dance classes – our dance instructor was amazing but we were not very good students and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get it right so it wasn’t a lot of fun. It landed up becoming a bit of a chore so we probably could have done without it
Milano
Liguria Any time saving or organising tips? Get a wedding planner – it is worth every penny and then some!!! Honestly, having Eve on board turned our day from good to fabulous and so many of our guests commented on just how amazing the day was and how it was evident that a professional had been involved – it was the little touches that just made the difference. Those are the things that I would have found it very difficult doing myself and having someone like Eve manage and put together took all the stress away from me. I cut back on things like my dress/ shoes/ bridesmaid dresses/ decor etc to
Photography: www.droreyal.co.za
make sure we could afford a wedding planner as I thought having the reduced stress levels was worth it!
Where did you get most of your ideas and inspiration from? I looked at lots of wedding blog sites and magazine. Everytime I saw a picture I liked, I put it into my “inspiration file”. It was easier to just gather stuff as I went. I started noticing a pattern of the things I liked so it became fairly easy to start putting together “inspiration boards”. My wedding planner, Eve, was
Genova Cinque Terre Imperia
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brilliant at taking my ideas and transforming them into something that was totally unique and very me. Being a banker, decor and creativity are not my strong points so I was so lucky to have someone like Eve who could speak “bride” and turn my ideas into something that worked!
Taryn and Marc 4 March 2011 “I
cannot begin to thank you enough for all the time and effort you put in to the day, we are just so grateful. We had the most perfect day, I could not have wished for more! “ Quoting Taryn from Wedding Magazine UK August/September Issue: “ Eve and I found all sorts of lovely containers to hold the floral arrangements, which created a gorgeous eclectic look that worked beautifully. Each table featured a glass bowl full of flowers, including roses and proteas, and boasted other accessories such as tea sets, glass bottles and old books tied with ribbon” “ My wedding planner Eve suggested we keep the majority of the floral displays in subtle shades of pink. She also showed me a picture of the bouquet of protea - South African national flower - and I was sold on the idea. It is not the most romantic looking bloom and not particular popular with brides, but that is exactly what I wanted, something totally different. When flowers were combined with delicate pink roses, the overall look was perfect.”
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Photography: www.katforsyth.com
Kelly & Michael 26 August 2011 Hi Eve Hope you are well! I know that you have already seen that our wedding pictures have been featured on The Pretty Blog, but wanted to email you personally… I am so excited about it and wanted to thank you again for our amazing décor! I have received so many compliments Keep well Kind regards, Kelly
Photography: www.wetakecreativepictures.com
Lijanta & Eugene 28 April 2011 “Hi Eve I just wanted to thank you once again on the wonderful job that you did with our wedding, and with the decor. It was exactly what I wanted. Picture purfect. A lot of guests also commented on the decor. You really do hae the magical touch and the bag full of fairy dust. I have some beautiful pictures of the flowers that you ahve arranged. I’m actually going to put them on the canvas with the oil painting finish so that I can hang them up in my house. You truly are an artist.”
Theresa & Petrus 22 October 2010 !
To you Eve... you were more than anyone could ever
wish to have to help envisage, plan, co-ordinate and TO BE WITH on their wedding day! So here's a big thank you - YOU made my days leading up to and on my day- blissful and happy! It's as if you sprinkle fairy dust around you .... may you "touch" more brides out there like you touched me! Theresa & Petrus
Photography: www.katforsyth.com
From the Industry Quoting Dror Eyal: “Before we post some of the wedding photos, I just wanted to give a shout out to Eve from Splendid Affairs who did the co-ordination, decor and flowers. Every email we sent out over the last month was swiftly responded to, she and V worked on the timelines so that we had time to do everything and nothing was rushed and Dom and Bryan even had a few minutes to watch the sunset, and here comes the quote, simply one of the best coordinators we’ve worked with in a long time”.
Interview with Hannalee of Hannalee Photography To see the full interview go to http://www.hannalee.co.za/2011/10/24/a-splendid-affair/
Why did you start your business? Weddings are about celebrating life, love, family and friends. My story is different to most wedding planners; I was never a little girl who dreamed of weddings, breathed weddings and I did not have a wedding myself (only a ceremony). I was always very career focused, after I finished Honours degree, I managed a diamond polishing factory, and organised events on government level. I was good at my job, but I never enjoyed or felt fulfilled by it. To me, a job was something that you do, at whatever cost to earn a living. The notion that you should love your job was very foreign to me. I started my business during a very sad time in my life. My mother passed away after loosing a difficult, long and devastating battle with cancer. When you are confronted with cancer and ultimately death, you realise just how precious life is, and how important it is to cherish every moment. I remember praying for guidance during the time when my days were filled with sadness. One thing I knew is that I simply could not live my life without passion or joy. Life is too precious and it is up to each one of us to be happy, create something we are proud of and succeed at the goals we set up for ourselves. I don’t remember exactly how wedding planning came up. After I made my lists and made columns of things I was passionate about, things I hated and wanted to avoid, I realised that I was passionate about life… and celebrating happy moments. Life is about ups and downs, there are happy times in our lives and there are dark and sad days. I believe that if we take our chances, and celebrate the happy days, the memories of those days will help us get though the dark time, and will put a smile on your face and will wipe away the tears. Happy memories never fade. Have you read any interesting books lately that you found inspirational? I must say, I read a lot, and I read different genres of books. Currently, I am engrossed in the book “A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin from Fire and Ice series. Yet I must say, my ultimate book of 2011 is “The Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak. I love this quote: “ Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”.
Do you have any cool goal-setting tips to share with us? I really believe that each one of us holds unbelievable power to achieve our goals. You have to believe in yourself and loose all fear. Fear of failure often holds us back and prevents us from even trying to take a single step towards success. There is no way to avoid risk if you want to live a creative life. Stop worrying about making right and wrong choices, and realise that no matter what you choose there is an opportunity to create something new and exciting. If you don’t like the results, go back to the drawing board and make new, hopefully better choices. If you crave changes in your life, or you have been feeling like there is more to life and you are considering using your talent in every day life, then now is the perfect time to act. You don’t need to leap into the unknown, taking a baby step is already a step in a right direction. Commit yourself to your ideas, and encourage yourself to act in confidence. All elements of success depend on your commitment and passion. If you were starting your business all over again, what would you have done differently? Nothing. OK I would have started using Freshbooks (online accounting program that made my quoting and invoice a breeze) a lot sooner! In all honesty, I think I was very careful to pace myself at the beginning. It was important to recognise my ability, strengths and limitations. I have been blessed with clients that were exactly right for each stage of my developing business. I had difficult clients too, but difficult clients are best teachers. I learnt very important lessons, and without those lessons I would not have been where I am now.
What do you find to be the biggest challenge as a business owner? At each stages of business development, business owners are confronted with different changes. At the initial stages, you worry about the cash flow and signing up new clients. As you become more established you worry about your reputation, plus finances, plus staff and so forth. Yet, I must say one of the biggest challenges I encountered being a creative business owner is finding work-family balance. We work when other people are relaxing and having fun. Each wedding takes an unbelievable amount of work with days of preparation before the function, then setting up on the day of the wedding and then there is a dreaded breakdown! I am truly blessed as my husband is incredibly supportive. My children understand the demands of my job, but all of this does not matter when you miss weekends, parties, and just snuggles. I am forcing myself to be very strict about the number of weddings I sign up per month and for the first time in 5 years I am booking entire December off to spend with my wonderful husband and children. Staying grounded is key, it is so easy to get caught up in all the wrong things. People in the wedding industry are creative but with creativity comes a very strong element of insecurity and need for validations (hence the major competitive factor). We are all insecure, and why would we not be? Producing designs, creating flower arrangements, baking exquisite creations, photographing that special day – we are literally putting our talent on display, leaving our soul vulnerable with each wedding. This is why I have a very important rule – I don’t compete with anyone. Splendid Affairs is well, Splendid Affair. If you come to me, you should want my work, my style and my designs. I love looking through wedding blogs and magazines and admire the sheer creativity of the wedding professionals and artistry of photographers. However, there are times when I shut out the world, I still my mind and I design. I really don’t care what is fashionable or trendy right now. I urge myself to come up with new ideas and creations. I do not chase industry accolades, I work hard at giving my clients the quality service they deserve. How do you keep yourself motivated and your designs fresh? I draw my inspiration from my clients. No one is a blank slate, so when I am talking to clients about their wedding wishes they tell me what they have in mind. Couples are comprised of likes, dislikes, experiences and aspirations. I want to learn about their personal taste and interests, and not only what they’ve pulled from wedding magazines and blogs. What they love in their personal lives is what they are going to connect with most on their wedding day. Once I understand and connect to someone, designs come effortlessly. I know it is important to stay on top of things, seek out new and exciting products and I love the search for that ‘newness’. Yet, at the same time it is all about my client and how I can bring their vision to life with a touch of that signature Splendid Affairs style. And I meditate. Who or what inspires you in your personal life and work? I am inspired by people. Each one of us has a story, and every story is special. I treasure each story told by my clients. Creating happy memories for my clients is my passion. On a professional level I am inspired by Eddie Zaratsian – his opulent flair, his attention to detail and floral vision. Anyone who knows me, will know of my insane adoration for Preston Bailey. I admire and respect his success. On a personal level, I love classical music, Impressionist art, historical novels, period movies and chocolate (yes, I get inspired after eating chocolate)! I am inspired by the memory of my mother (she was an incredible lady) and I dedicate each wedding to her.
What’s the best part of doing what you do? The wedding day! All the hard work, long hours of preparation and planning coming together is the most magical part of the process. I love seeing the bride in her dress – and every time she looks breathtaking!