10 Years With Style - We made it!

Happy birthday to us.. Happy birthday to us...

A word for the writer: Jaime Valdes-Riench, owner of Travel & Events with Style and Destinations With Style

I can’t believe it! We are officially 10 years old.  We made to be 10 Years With Style!!

What a honour it is to announce our companies’ birthdays.  In some ways it has felt like it happened in a blink of an eye, yet looking back and going over the memories is puts me into a state of awe of all the ground we have broken to get to this point.  Our humble beginnings where nothing more than Jorge and myself looking at each other and saying, “So are you ready?”… us plugging our noses, and jumping into the deep end!  I personally have been doing travel for wow… 19 years and counting? But these past 10 years have been full of sweet successes and a few bitter learning hurtles.  Every one of them ending with a happy ending of course!

When Travel & Events with Style first opened it doors to serving its guests, it was a business model almost unheard of, especially for our little city of Winnipeg, MB.  I am a firm believer that most things are meant to be and every day is a gift ready to be unwrapped.  Every milestone we passed where truly moments to remember always.  Hard or easy, they are what gives us experience.

When Travel & Events with Style was created, the goal was to merge the love of travel with weddings.  Destination Weddings where starting to grow and to have a firm that offered the travel agency and the wedding planner firm under one roof only made perfect sense.  As time went on, we as a company started to notice the areas of challenges for our couples.  We then added services such as Officiant services to be wed prior to departure, wedding invitations, wedding websites, and really, the list always seems to grow.. we now even have fitness?! And a destination wedding magazine, book and bridal show?!  What?!  We are pinching ourselves!   We can honestly say that  when a service is added on, we educate ourselves in that area to offer our guests our very best.  The best part of passing this 10 year milestone is that we have now have had the chance to grow our relationships with amazing suppliers around the world!  One thing we have always strove for was to keep our company couture and boutique.  The only way to offer service that is beyond status quo is to keep the quality with hands on, personalized service.

To everyone who has stuck by us thorough these years, to every client that has honoured us as being our guest, and to everyone we have met along the way, I Jorge and I want to say, Thank you.  It is a blessing we are here doing what we love and YOU all where a large part of it!

Salud!
Jaime Valdes-Riench & Jorge Valdes

Making life a Novel not Manual - Progress, Success, and Motivation:

Letter from the editor:  text by Jaime Valdes-Riench

I usually like to write something heart felt around New Year’s, but it took until now to feel compelled and inspired to write.  I feel this blog post is from my heart now that we are entering our 10 year business anniversary and welcoming all the new changes that will come with that.  So please enjoy! The words are from my heart.

With Love (and Style of course):
Jaime Valdes-Riench

It is interesting that we all can be creatures of habit.  If you are like me, you take a certain comfort when you can forecast and look ahead in order to anticipate what the next hurtle will be.  After all, that is 90% of what an event planner has to do, right?  We trouble shoot by nature; it’s deeply rooted within us. Now what happens when you start allow that to creep into daily to business life and even your personal life?  If we all forecast too often we start living life like a manual.  But life is a novel, not a manual. 

If you among that 2%, who is driven to be a leader and innovator, following your “manual” will just choke your inspiration and motivated spirit.  Do not fall victim to the comfort of the manual.

Not everyone will believe there is such a thing as your true destiny.  Yes, we make our own destiny.  I do believe however there is an infinite potential we all have when we follow through will all aspects of our passions to the maximum of our given talents.  How do we achieve success? Constant and consistent motivation; moving that momentum into progress; and following through until we reach success.  Now here is the kicker.. there is no end. If you want longevity of consistent success you have to continue even AFTER you reach your goal, OR you start the manual mode.  You also need to take comfort that you are making progress, even when it is not as apparent (i.e. challenging situations).  Make your personal and business life a novel, not a manual.  Allow ups and downs to occur, but do not let them strangle you.  It is developing an ear to listen to life when it is forcing you to your true potential.  It is seeing that your where not thrown into a “hard time”, but rather catapulted into something that makes you uncomfortable, and in turn.. makes you better.  Sometimes things have to happen to push us out of the “manual” mode so we get back to making a riveting novel that other want to actually read.  Make your novel inspiring to others.  That ensures your life continues, even after your life ends.  2013 taught me to throw away my manual.  2014 is all about writing a novel.  I encourage you to write yours, and get ready for an amazing harvest of the best years of your life.

Thanks for reading.

Here comes Lucky ‘13

Written By: Jaime Valdes-Riench, owner of Travel & Events with Style
Image by Kamp Photography

I love this time of year, and I love making a New Year’s blog post.  Like every year I like can’t believe how the year flew by.  I love looking back and at the best and the worst times.  Really, even the hard times just make us so much stronger and wiser.  I believe in growth at all times.  Whether we sign up for it or not, we always some how are moving forward.

Now, “Lucky 13”.. Hum.  I am not a superstitious person, but even the number 13 makes you think for a moment.  During my annual December prep for events (weddings, corporate and personal), I had the opportunity to have a few days of a quiet mind.  My thoughts brought me to this, 13 is only unlucky when we do not prepare and follow through with what life will serve us (so it doesn’t have anything to do with the number, but more with what we do with life).  In other words, I really don’t believe in luck, but rather being proactive rather than reactive in order to have a positive outcome.  It is all on how we work with the hand we where dealt with.  When we plan and take responsibility for our choices, we can then find ourselves in a “lucky” or prosperous situation.  This is just my perspective of course.

Now how does this apply to the With Style companies?  First off, all our dear 2013 wedding couples are getting ready for one of the most special days of their lives.  They planned, they hired professionals, and they followed through with a dream.  In the end, they are will have an incredible memory to start a new journey.  That’s not luck, that’s planning and hiring experienced people to help to be proactive with their dream.  I am not exaggerating that I literally smile ear to ear when I think about all the couples, one by one, and imagine their special days.  How I wish Tiffany, Jorge and/or I could be at them all.  Not because of the “trip”, but for that perfect moment when the bride comes around the corner to see their future life partner waiting for them to say “I will forever”.  I wish I was there for the moment when love binds and makes a new beginning.

Now for new beginnings and what is in store:  2013 will bring us more change, and has inspired us to push the limits even further.  Tiffany, Jorge and I really believe in increasing the value of our services every year.  What is in store do you ask?  Well, for one, we decided the beginning of the year we will invest in wedding planning tools for our new couples that will sign us starting 2013.  We are increasing services to our wedding planning packages, making a lot of online tools and a more thorough wedding website for our couples so their guests can feel a little more part of the planning process.  We find, especially with destination weddings, that guests want to feel a part of the process and want to be more informed.  With destination weddings, guests are making larger financial commitments so they are always looking for comfort that they are making the right decision to participate in the wedding by going.  So does the couple.  Among these positive changes, we always are working on building international relationships with vendors and resorts. That is something we take a lot of pride in.

How we are different: The With Style Team is not constantly trying to sell to our clients! You are not going to get a million email flyers from us for travel sales, we are not going bombard you with a million ads such as “heard you got engaged please sign up here” with posts on social media, and you are not going to hear us tell you that “you have to act now or will loose this great opportunity for this limited time offer” (unless of course it was a third party that made a deadline that is out of our control – still then we will give you both sides of the reasoning so we can help you decide).  Now why do you ask we approach it this way?  Isn’t that against everything marketing tells us to do as a company?  Why yes, yes it is.  Our team works really hard on building trust and pairing ourselves well with our clients.  If we wanted to make a sale I am pretty sure we could, but our main objective is not to make a million sales.  We understand we will be your partner for the next year to build your wedding dream so if you hired us based on hype you would not trust us once the hype subsided.  Our team wants to be able to look you in the eye and be able to give you an honest opinion at all times.  We pride ourselves in this integrity.  It is not a secret Jaime, yes I mean myself, has a BIG funny personality and Tiffany and Jorge have to be the sweetest humans on earth, but all of us can say we care deeply about our job and our clients.  We go to all lengths to help and support our clients over the course of the planning process (and boy, do we have a few interesting stories to tell).  The one thing we have in common is that we are compassionate, empathic, educated and most of all, are extremely honest in caring way.  We have a job where mistakes can take a huge emotional toll on our clients, so for that, we take that to heart to better ourselves every day.  We ADORE our jobs and we adore our clients!

So in closing, it is that time again to say thank you! Thank you to all our clients, to all the vendors we work with, and our amazing team.  Every part of this job is incredible, even on the bad days.  We have a job where we make dreams come true, not everyone can say that.  We really feel blessed to be able to do what we do.

So SALUD! And we wish you all nothing but the best in 2013 and beyond!            
Also, if you made this far in this article.. that is an extra thank you I must say.  This was a long one! (wink)

Destination Weddings - Are you ready to depart?

Written By Jaime Valdes-Riench, owner of Travel & Events with Style

You booked your trip months ago and now the time has finally come to depart on your destination wedding or your dream honeymoon, but the question to ask is, “Has anything changed between then and now?”  The answer often is, “Yes!” in some form or another.  Travel is one of the things that you should expect the unexpected.  In one moment you hear suggestions that you should only take carrier-on so you don’t lose your luggage, and then we hear the news and we are told you are no longer allowed to take carry-on on the plane.  There can be nightmares of the long line ups at security and new procedures they implement everyday to insure air travel is safe.  Now, how do you fit in with it all?  How will it affect you directly on your up and coming trip?  Because your destination may be far from home make sure you have taken the extra steps to make sure you have all your bases covered.

Make a list and check everything off as you pack it:   This simple practice is worth the while.  You have so much on your mind and you don’t want to forget anything.  Making a list and checking it off as you pack it will ensure you have everything you need and will make for a great holiday!

Did you purchase travel insurance:  If you ask anyone who does not purchase travel insurance and why they don’t you often get a few answers such as “I’m young and healthy, I don’t need it”, “nothing ever happened to me before, why should it now?”, or “If I buy insurance I am just planning for the worst!”.  Being prepared is never a bad thing.  For the minimal fee it costs you, it truly is worth it.  And with current packages available now, there are even clauses that they can fly you home if something happened to a loved one that wasn’t travelling with you.  Also, note that some countries such a Cuba have made it mandatory as an entrance requirement to have travel insurance.  You hear it all the time, but it does come down to peace of mind.

Your passport and travel documents:  Believe it or not there are still countries that do not require your passport as an entry requirement, but they are few and far between.  Even though they may exist, it is always strongly recommended that you travel with your passport in hand.  It was designed primarily for travel, thus it covers all the main details needed in order to travel.  Also, entry requirements of countries change on a dime, this ensures you are ready if per chance the country you are visiting changes entrance policies.  As for travel documents, always make sure they are packed in your carry-on or on your person and are ready for check in.  You don’t want to be halfway to the airport wondering if you left your ticket on the coffee table.  Remember that you should have verified your name spelling at the time of booking and it has to appear the same as your passport.  Something that often gets forgotten is that you should not book yourselves under your new married name unless your passport already reflects it.  You can not change to your married name without your marriage certificate and an ID with your new address.  So trying to do it last minute is not always possible.  You will not be allowed entrance if the name does not match and once a ticket is issued it very difficult to almost impossible change it.  Charter companies are more flexible with name alterations, but it is extremely difficult to change regular schedule airline flights (i.e. Aircanada, WestJet, etc.).  Be proactive not reactive.

Double check the location you are planning to visit:  If you are leaving to another country, re-familiarize yourself with the countries entrance requirements, health risks, social risks, and suggested vaccinations.  Also, if you are transiting another country, remember to check that countries transiting requirements as well.  A recommend website for Canadian travellers is Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada www.yoyage.gc.ca and also check the World Health Organization www.who.int

Recheck baggage limitations:  Baggage has been scrutinized in a large way since October 11, 2001 (911) and we have seen changes happen literally over night.  A lot of travellers will try to stand their ground and insist that their travel agent told them 6 months ago this would be allowed.  What they do not realize it is the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority makes their discretion according to current events which occur quickly and must be implemented immediately.  Before you depart, a suggested site would be:  www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca to see what changes have been implemented so you can anticipate for longer than usual wait times in order to clear security.  It will also advise if there are any changes to baggage requirements such as limited amounts of medications or no liquids allowed in carry-on luggage.  The time you save in security can mean relaxing prior to flight to literally running aboard or missing your connection all together.

If carry-on luggage is allowed, plan for the unexpected:  If you are allowed to take carry-on with you, making the extra effort of taking a few extra items that can sustain you if you where separated from your luggage.  This can make the difference of being more comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.  Now considering the limitation of liquids in carry-on luggage may limit what you can bring aboard, but bringing a change of clothes, a change of shoes, a small amount of necessary medication, a few snacks, and possibly reading material can make the extra long layover a little more bearable.

On the day of travel: When it is time to check in, check-in for international flights and charters 3 hours prior... really!  Legally international carriers and charters can and will deny you boarding.  If your flight is at 5:00am and they request you check-in at 2:00am it is understandable that you are dreading the commute at 1:00am to the airport, but a suggestion can be to rent a hotel room at the hotel that is attached to your airport terminal.  Then you can just role your luggage in prior to check in verses the long commute if there is one.  It simple is a decision of cost (for the hotel room) vs. comfort.

Always consider the holidays and peak seasons when travelling:   Security often can take longer during certain times of the year and may require longer waiting periods.  Also if there is an alert out, this will increase line ups everywhere in all airports.  It is a good idea to make these time considerations so that these early check in times are not be as uncomfortable as they could be. 

Planning ahead can make a world of difference.  Taking the few extra steps are worth it and will keep your mind focussing on the important things, each other, the trip, and how much fun you will have!

It's Our Birthday! We are 8!!

Happy Birthday, Travel & Events with Style!
We can't believe 8 years flew by so quickly!

This is very special for us because today we grew to the big 8 years and what a road it has been! We are thankful for all our hundreds of clients we have and had, and all the weddings we participated in.  It is unbelievable how many we have had the previledge of being a part of!

It is incredible to think how far we have come and far we have yet to go.  What makes is worth the while truly is the great clients we have and team we have built.  Both are growing everyday and we couldn't be more tickled pink!

In light of our big day, our party is the Stella and Dot Online Truck Show.  Our gift to you is that we are drawing the hostess gift to give to someone who participates in the trunk show (participates by making a purchase.  So happy birthday to you too! Here is the link for the trunk show again: www.stelladot.com/ts/un8k5

Thank you all for making this happen.  And Cheers to many, many.. many.. more years to come!

With Love: The With Style Team!

Travel & Events With Style named Best Destination Wedding Planner in Winnipeg

Happy Friday, everyone!

We wanted to share with you that Travel & Events With Style was named Winnipeg's and Manitoba's BEST Destination Wedding Planner by the Wedding Industry Experts! We where also excited to find out that where also within the top 10 in all of Canada! 

This comes with alot thankfulness to all our team members and clients.  You are the reason why we do what we do.  We know that and say thank you every day for having a job that inspires, encourages and brings joy to other people.  There is no better job than one that brings true love together.

For this, we would like to say thank you for voting! Now, back to work for us.. can't keep our couples waiting...

Salud! 

The With Style Team

http://weddingindustryexperts.com/

Our Renewal of Vows - the Ceremony and the Resort

Part 5

Text by Jaime Valdes-Riench

So it has been 2 weeks and I can’t believe how time has flown by! The trip was a whirlwind to get there and back, but at least once we checked in, time stood still.  I am so happy we chose Now Amber in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a gorgeous resort and the staff where wonderful!

I would love to give one last post about our renewal of vows and what happened at the resort and on the day.

We arrived on the Tuesday and the Wednesday I mixed a little work and the wedding prep.  We had a thorough tour of the facilities, the resort, and went over all the wedding details with Karen the on site wedding coordinator.  Because we planned the wedding the next day of arriving we had to meet with her the same day as the wedding.  Most couples would wait one more day, but considering it was only us, and a non-legal ceremony, really it was easy enough to do it the same day.  I don’t however recommend that for larger weddings.  It would be far too rushed.

The wedding planner Karen was wonderful! I also had spoken prior with the head of the wedding planning Edith prior to leaving.  Both where so great to work with. Both from being a bride and being a wedding planner. 

For the flowers, I had ordered my bouquet and Jorge’s boutonnière and they came out perfect! The key was that I sent in images of what I wanted and labelled it clearly for them.  As a wedding planner I can guide you more on those details.  I don’t want to get lost in this post so that will be for another time.

 

 

Our pre-wedding prep on the wedding day was pretty much perfect from a sports enthusiast’s point of view.  After the meeting and a light lunch, we went up to our large suite and watch the soccer games from the comfort of our terrance plunge pool on our deck! My husband was on cloud 9!  Really, it was a stress free day so why not?

Then came the primping.. After we both freshening up, and my husband got ready, I ask him to leave the suite so I could get ready and surprise him with my dress and hair.  Little did I know that instead of going to the lounge as planned, he stayed on the same floor to write out his vows.  This meant the wedding planner panicked and lost him! He forgot his flower and everyone started to worry and look for him.  I on the other hand got ready within in 30mins (new record) and was none the wiser.  Really, where could he go?  After 20 years, it was not like I was really worried.  (it was funny however to see the planner worry though. Been there, did that, done it).

It all came together in the end.  Simple, sweet and full of love.  I found the walk to the Gazebo a little awkward because I had to walk around the pool deck, but the gazebo was lovely.  We didn’t ask for decorations, but they still put in a little bit of drape to make it special.  It really was that, special.  Every word we spoke where heart felt.  It meant the world to me that Jorge wrote his vows, and I spoke from my heart.  We actually made the wedding planner cry.  That is a huge compliment because they take care of how many weddings?  

For the dinner, the resort pulled out the stops without any extra charge.  We asked to simply book a reservation at one of the A la carte restaurants, but they took it one further.  They cleared the top floor of the seafood restaurant to give us a private sunset dinner.  We had a designated waiter, (Oliver) who was like a private butler for us all night.  I have never heard so many “pops” of opening sparkling wine for one table in my life! And I am wedding planner! 

During the dinner we where not sure if the weather would hold out.  It started to rain a little, but ended right at the point a big beautiful red moon came out. We could not have asked for a better night.  It was peaceful and relaxing.  It was easy to loose yourself in the romance. 

I would like to say thank you for following me on this journey.  I didn’t want to be too wordy, but I want to give you a little taste of the amazing experience Jorge and I had.  It was something him and I promised we would do for each other.  Even though we did not have a photographer (we had a point and shoot camera on a timer – yes that is sad).  We wanted to document the experience at least with a few pictures.  My apologies they are not what I would had loved them to be, but I treasure them none the less.

So salud to a happy life! I wish nothing less than happiness for you all!

- Jaime & Jorge

Our Renewal of Vows part 4 - Wardrobe Malfunction

texted by Jaime Valdes-Riench

Hello so we meet again, and share another adventure in this renewal of vow journey.  Today I wanted to talk about something that is pretty real when it comes to any event.. the oh so loved… wardrobe malfunctions.

Not everything in the planning process is going to go smoothly, even for a wedding planner.  I do have to admit that with my experience and easy attitude to our ceremony there are far less challenges.  (remember second time around is far easier and we do not have guests to coordinate with).

In our case, I did want to share with you a few challenges though and how we over came them.  I hope it helps at least someone!

Jorge’s attire: 

For those of you who know Jorge, he is a big guy, but a bit on the shorter side.  This always makes for challenges with choosing dress clothes.  We have found now that getting Jorge a slender fit, French cut dress shirt is best.  With him naturally having a larger neck and shoulders, he is able to get a smaller size and it fits is body and neck well all at the same time.  It took a few tries to figure this out, but by going to an actual tailor or professional suit store for men gives us the guidance we really needed.  This also means it is important to plan ahead! We needed time for tailoring of pants, etc. or we would not have had it in time.  Jorge is just not “off the rack” type of person.  Who knew this time all the tailoring went to the groom and I AM off the rack type of person so my dress was pretty much easy, breezy.

For my challenge, it was my veil!  I had purchased it online from a reputable store and it was well made and beautiful.  It didn’t however fit the way I wanted it to though.  The veil was too small to cover my face AND have the flower in the back of my hair.  SO, my wedding planner / crafty side came out! I remade it.  I would love to show you how!

My Veil:

1.        I first removed the flower and veil from the hair comb.  Since I had to cut away the netting I had to toss it.  It just wasn’t the depth I needed it to be.

2.        I put the comb aside since I would use it again for the new veil.

3.       I purchased more Russian Tulle to make a new veil (Russian Tulle is a the correct netting for a bird cadge veil because of its wide holes and because it is finely woven).

4.       I followed these steps to make a new veil:

a.       First measure your head and add 4 inches.  Cut the veil to that length.  If you want a veil that the comb sits at the back of your head above your bun and still covers you face you will need at least a width of 18inches for the Russian Tulle

b.      Fold the piece of netting in half and cut an angle 5inches from side that is the back toward the outside edge and on angle where it is about half way deep on the outside edge (in my case 9 inches down from the top).  This allows for it to make more of a bonnet shape.  If you do not cut these angles you will have 2 large empty pockets on the sides.   Trust me, it doesn’t look pretty (sometimes I work on trial and error unfortunately).  

c.       Do a running stitch threw all the joints from the sides, around the back, down the other sid edge to edge.  There should only be the front edge of the veil that is not stitched.

d.      Pull the thread of the running stitch so the veil’s stitches scrunch together.  It will look sort of like a bonnet now.

e.      Attach the scrunched seem to the comb.  I did a running stitch again to attach it to the comb and sandwiched the seem in white ribbon to hide the edge of the sewed netting.  With a little hot glue tuck the edges of the ribbon under in order to have no seems showing (finishes the look nicely).

f.        Add a small appliqué if you desire.  I chose one because the veil will sit above my bun and it will give a lovely accent to my up-do.

After the veil was complete, I took the lovely feather flower and glued it to a hair clip.  I finished all edges with white ribbon to finish the look there as well.  I now am able to first put the flower at the back of my head to the side of my bun and have a removable bird cadge veil.  This is far more practical actually because for dinner, after our ceremony, I can still have the lovely flower, but the veil will not be in my way because I can remove it!

So all in all, sometimes these “challenges” are hidden gifts.  It does takes a bit of time, imagination and hot glue.. remember hot glue fixes EVERYTHING.. (just kidding). 

Cheers and pictures to come after we return!