Style Network New Series Premieres - Married Away

The name of The Style Network's
new show has been chosen!
It is called Married Away.
I am thrilled to be on the premiere episode of this new show. Watch this Tuesday December the 5th 9/8c. In San Antonio if you have Time Warner it is channel 65 or if you have Grande it is channel 151.

Destination Wedding-Hawaii

Renay and Joe were married September 23rd at a sunset ceremony with the gorgeous ocean as their backdrop.

Renay contacted me as she envisioned a seaside wedding but had no idea of how to pull it off. The only thing Renay did know was that she wanted to get married as soon as possible because her groom is in the military and could be sent to war at any time. So the rush to plan her special day began.

Renay was wonderful. She completely trusted that I would pull together her vision and create her dream wedding. We chose her gown at the fabulous Blush Couture in Dallas. It was absolutely perfect! Different and yet the perfect gown for her seaside ceremony. The wedding and reception were held the gorgeous the Ihlani JW Marriott Resort on the island of Oahu.

I arrived in Hawaii several days early to review the site and meet with all of the vendors who would provide the services for Renay and Joe's day. Renay was able to arrive with her family and enjoy the resort and take advantage of some of the fun things Hawaii had to offer while I looked after all of the details.

On Thursday before the wedding the bride and groom hosted a cocktail hour for their friends and family that had traveled so far to witness their wedding. It was a relaxed gathering and gave everyone a chance to get to know one another.

For the rehearsal dinner I scheduled all the guests to attend traditional Hawaiian Luau. At the rehearsal itself one of the bridesmaids was surprised with a proposal from her boyfriend! It was so romantic. She did not suspect a thing.

On the wedding day the bride and groom woke up and went snorkeling. Since their wedding was at sunset and I and my staff was their to handle all of the final details, they had time to enjoy their day and really make the most of their destination wedding.

When the guests began making their way to the ceremony site each of the female guests were given beautiful parasols. Upon arriving at the ceremony site all guests were given a lei. Rather than the traditional corsage and boutonnières for the parents I had special leis made for them. The parasols also acted as wedding favors. For the wedding flowers we used gorgeous green cymbidium orchids for the bouquets. The bride's bouquet had cascading ribbons with small white dendrobium orchids tied on that gracefully floated in the breeze.

Following the ceremony the guests were led to the reception site were they enjoyed passed hor'd and cocktails. Once the bride and groom finished with their pictures they joined their guests and everyone showered them with love as they congratulated the couple. Everyone then was seated at one long table for an intimate dinner where they shared stories and many laughs. The toasts were made and tears were shed. After dinner the dancing began. Instead of the traditional 1st dance being the bride and groom we decided the bride would dance with her father. After all she is his only little girl and it was a very touching moment to see them dance. It seemed perfectly normal for the parents dances to come first. The groom and his mom then tore up the dance floor with their fun dance. You could see they have a very special relationship that was wonderful to witness. Then the bride and groom finished off the dances with their special dance. The dance floor was then opened and the guests enjoyed mingling and dancing. Most were entertained by the grooms dance tricks.

When it came time to cut the cake the bride was visably upset as she had forgotten to tell us that she had brought her grandmother's cake topper and that it was sitting in her room. Not to worry, that was why we were there. I had my assistant run up to her room to retrieve the family heirloom. The cake topper was put into place and the tears were replaced with huge smiles as the bride smashed wedding cake all over the grooms face!

Renay and Joe selected my company,The French Connection, to provide her with her photography for the weekend.

My assistant, photographer and I all flew to Hawaii to make a bride’s dream of a wonderful destination wedding come true. To view more pictures visit our website www.tfweddingconsultant.com, select photography link and then select order photos online and then select portfolio at the top of the page.

WOAI Interview

Jenna Walker with WOAI contacted me for an interview for her wedding blog. It was so much fun! I had a terrible cold that I was recovering from so please excuse my voice. Otherwise I think the interview turned out to be very informative. Click here to watch or cut and paste into your brower. http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/?videoId=295809#top (note: be patient. It takes a second to load. The interview will come up after a quick commercial.)

Knot Market Party

I had the honor of being selected to plan this year’s market party for the Knot Magazine. The event was held at the newly renovated Pearl Stable on August 24th. Planning this event was an absolute blast! I had complete creative freedom and the results turned out beautifully.

I wanted a atmosphere that made the guests want to keep moving around so we chose food stations and the food was delicious. The blue Hawaiian martinis weren't bad either. The magazine chose the invites which were pink and brown, the same colors as last years event!!! So I decided to focus on other colors that are very “The Knot”and bring in the colors of the invite elsewhere. I chose aqua, bronze and spring tea linens for the event and had the floral in shades of pink. William Garza is an absolutely amazing florist. I work with him exclusively and this event says why. On a previous event in June at the Hotel Valencia we used these fabulous crystal trees and I knew that I wanted to use them again. William did such a wonderful job conveying my vision. I simply told him I wanted shades of pink flowers and to use the crystal trees. With that he pulled together a wonderful look that accented the rest of my event design.

I selected Steven Pizzini to do the lighting for the event. I knew that I wanted to have the Knot logo splashed on the walls of the Stable. He did a wonderful job.

I got all of my linens from the Linen Studio. Michelle Hartl has such luxurious fabrics!

I was having the hardest time trying to decide what I wanted to do with the upstairs area in the Stable. The weekend before the event it came to me. A lounge area!! I had to have lounge furniture up there!! With only 4 days before my event I was able to secure comfy lounge furniture from Marquee Events out of Austin. It was a huge success.

The stationary was printed by You've Got Paper. She did a great job on finding the exact color of paper that I wanted and printed my menus and programs.

Inside the Pearl Stable I feel you MUST have a band so I chose Night Fire! The lead singer Jennifer is simply the best. She has a great voice and the live music was a big hit.

I have to say the ONLY thing I would have liked to change was the temperature inside of the Stable. We had the cocktail hour in the foyer and the temperature was just about unbearable and I was wearing a strapless dress!! Once we opened the doors to the main room I was hopeful that it would feel better and it did but only for a bit. Once everyone got inside the temperature heated up again. I went upstairs to enjoy my lounge area and almost passed out from the heat! Also I know several guests mentioned that they did not really feel like dancing because of how warm it was in the space.

I sincerely hope that the Pearl Stable does something about this because our event was only about 125 guests. I can not imagine what it will feel like in there when they have the space maxed out.

Otherwise it the party was a success! I had a team of 6 associates from The French Connection there to make sure all went as planned.

I look forward to my next big event!

Destination Wedding?

Are you planning a destination wedding? We can offer you planning assistance to wedding photography! Relax and enjoy your family and friends while we handle of the details! Email us at: info@tfweddingconsultant.com

Assistant Position Available

Hello Ladies, I am seeking to fill an assistant position with my company. The right person for this important position will be both upbeat and outgoing. This person will be my direct assistant to help with multiple tasks. Computer knowledge is a must. Strong people skills is a must. Telephone skills a must. Strong attention to detail a must. If you possess these qualities and live in the San Antonio area please call our office to schedule an interview. (210) 349-8301.

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Schedule Update

I think the producers did a great job in showing the challenges experienced in planning a wedding with limited time and budget. My vendors did a wonderful job making Andria & Felix's day beautiful and truly brought together the day the bride and I designed. My design board really helped vendors such as the florist see exactly what floral arrangements types of flowers and overall look we envisioned for the day. I encourage all brides to pull together their ideas on a design board so each vendor can see the overall feeling you are trying to create. My baker was able exactly duplicate the cake Andria had chosen for her design board. The couple experienced a lovely day. Be sure to watch this Tuesday for episode 413.

May 27, 2006 Wedding Success!

From: Mari Villagomez
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 9:55 AM
To: tracy@tfweddingconsultant.com
Subject: May 27, 2006 Wedding

Hi Tracy,

I just wanted to thank you for all of your help with our wedding. It was beautiful and the vendors your company provided were great. The cakes were awesome, we got a lot of compliments and the photographer was really great taking pictures. I haven't seen them yet but I loved our engagement and bridal portraits. The girls that came and did our hair and makeup also did a wonderful job. So, thank you again for all of your help.

Mari Villagomez

WOAI-News Radio Interview

Be sure to listen to WOAI radio Monday June 12th between 5:00 and 9:00 AM for an interview I did with Charity McCurdy.

How do you insure a successful event?

Without the highest quality vendors no one, not even the most talented wedding consultant can insure your wedding day success. I look for vendors that concentrate full time to the wedding industry. Sometimes the lowest cost is not the best option when selecting your wedding day vendors. Your wedding consultant has established relationships with vendors who have proven successful wedding records.

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? Schedule Update

The network has changed the schedule. According to the current schedule my episodes should air June 13, 2006 episode #412 and June 20, 2006 episode #413. I can not wait to see how they turned out.

April 22, 2006 Wedding Success!

-----Original Message-----
From: Brenda Carmona
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 9:16 PM
To: info@tfweddingconsultant.com
Subject: Thank you!!!
Importance: High

I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart! Planning a wedding long distance is not the best thing, but your personal service made a huge difference. I loved my pictures, they were exactly how I wanted them, candid and more photojournalistic! And I also loved the work of my make up artist, she was professional and on time, and took my suggestions really well.

Thank you sooo much for making my day special.

Brenda

Whose Wedding Update Episode #406

You just never now how it will come across on television so I am thrilled to see that Magui and Charles’ wedding was accurately portrayed on last night’s episode of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? I think the producers of the show did a wonderful job at telling the story of their day and at showcasing our beautiful city. I got such a thrill out of seeing all of the familiar landmarks. I want to thank all of my amazing colleagues that helped to make their wedding a success. We all had to pull together and figure out how to cut the budget in half and still make it a wedding that both Magui and Charles dreamed of in spite of all of the family drama.

The French Connection-Tracy French

Hey, you can post a comment here too. Have a wedding question? Post it here and I will try to help. Simply click on "Comment" under this post.

Thanks for visiting.

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Hi everyone!

I am very excited to announce that the new season of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? is underway. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday night at 9:00 PM central time to The Style Network. I am very fortunate to have 3 episodes for season #4. Look for episode #406 airing April 11th featuring my couple Charles and Magui. Wedding at Mission San Jose and reception at the AT&T Community Centre downtown. It was a gorgeous wedding. Magui and Charles were so much fun to work with.

The next episode is #412 which should air May 23td but the network sometimes throws in a repeat episode at the last minute so the date is subject to change. This episode features my couple Felix and Andrea. Wedding and reception at the Marriott Plaza Hotel downtown. This is such a wonderful venue. Laurie Pena the catering sales manager is such a joy to work with. In fact the entire staff at this property was wonderful.

The final episode of the season should be #413 airing May 30th. Again this date could change unexpectedly. The couple is Rene and Sheila. This episode was a last minute booking for the show. They called me on a Thursday to inform that they would arrive on Tuesday to begin shooting. WOW! I was worried about how it would turn out but I think it was a success. Rene and Sheila are very much in love and I think you will really see this come through. Wedding at Sheila's church Valley Hi Assembly of God and the reception was at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.

Thank you for visiting my blog!