Our New Special Guest Blogger!

Hello All,

My name is Lisa Nelson and I am the founder and owner of Elegant Event Planning and Design, a comprehensive wedding planning firm. I am absolutely thrilled about the opportunity to submit weekly blogs – in efforts to help African-American Brides plan the wedding of their dreams!

In my first entry, I would like to introduce myself to all of you. I have been in the wedding coordination and planning business for 6 years. I started in New England, first as an assistant to a seasoned wedding planner out of Maine. When I learned that I was moving to Maryland, I went on my own and planned and coordinated weddings for free, to build a portfolio, and gain additional exposure. I planned weddings in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Upon moving to Maryland, I started my business in Baltimore. My first client was a full planning client, for which I charged $750.00. Oh…it seems so long ago. :) I charged cheaply so that I could gain exposure in this area, meet a number of vendors in a short period of time, gain experience, and get a feeling for what Bride’s in this area wanted. Over the next five years, I gained my certification. My business spread from Baltimore to Frederick/Hagerstown, Richmond VA, lower Montgomery County, Southern Maryland, Northern Virginia, and finally DC. I live in my car! Even through the gas crisis, the difficult clients, and trying times - I have been truly blessed, and am honored that I am able to do something that I thoroughly love and enjoy.

I plan to use my expertise to write weekly blogs to African-Americanbrides.com. I plan to write a wide variety of articles – about all aspects of wedding planning. I will write informative articles on topics; such as, budgeting, why it’s important to hire a day of coordinator, costs of wedding planners, why couples on small budgets absolutely need to seek the advice of a wedding planner, costs of weddings and vendors, family dynamics, and more. I will also submit informative “tip” articles. Some of those topics might include, design tips, cake design, ethnic wedding tips, African American wedding traditions, wedding attire, picking out the ring, and the like. I will also talk about “different” destinations and venues, like home weddings, boats, farms and destination weddings. I will intersperse real weddings in throughout the year, as I have elegant Bride’s and stories that I would like to share with you.

This is definitely your forum for planning your wedding. If you have suggestions on topics, or questions – I would definitely like to hear from you. I would love to write pieces based on your questions and concerns. Please feel free to email me – even if you just need some information.

I am looking forward to hearing from you, and helping all of you plan your weddings!

Lisa
lisa@eleganteventdesign.com