Sincere Thanks Due... So, Thank You Kristin!

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(yes, she did indeed get into a bath tub, on her wedding day, in her actual wedding dress!!!)

I am going to take a break from all the shameless self promotion and do something I should have done a long time ago. While I am truly blessed to have several evangalist brides out there, singing my praises wherever they can, one has continued to deliver friends, co-workers and just about anyone else who will listen to my doorstep. Since I did her wedding on April 29, 2006 Kristin has sent more referrals my way than I can count, and I am serious about that. I know I have done at least 3 weddings directly as a result of her and I am positive I am forgetting a few. That's as much a testament to my horrible memory as it is Kristin's unwavering support of what I have been doing over the years.

Having just met with the most recent of  "Kristin's Girls" that is interested in booking my services, and having spent some time reminiscing about her wedding, I thought it was appropriate to publicly thank her for all she's done for me and my business. It's brides like her, and really most of my brides who go so far above and beyond to send their friends and family my way that is the life-blood of what I do. I take it as the highest form of compliment that you would personally recommend me to your people.

So, thanks to Kristin and all the rest of you for helping me continue to deliver what I hope is the highest possible level of service I can to the ones you love.

Busy, busy, busy!

Thanks to all of you who have helped make this month one of my busiest booking months ever! I would like to think it's 100% based on my work but I am all too aware that finances come into play and as many of you know, I have tried to go out of my way to work with you to get packages that fit your needs and budget. So as I've been saying here for awhile now, please ask if you have a question regarding package contents or pricing. Also, due to the extremely high booking rate I am experiencing right now for weddings taking place in the Fall and even into next Winter, please make absolutely sure that you get your contract and retainer in as soon as you can, then get a counter-signed contract back from me confirming your booking. I have several inquiries for many key dates in November, December and January so it's not out of the realm of possibility that even though you send in your contract and retainer, another couple has already booked that date since our initial email/phone call/meeting. My stated policy is first come, first served and trust me, I hate nothing worse than having to turn away someone who wants to work with me, both from a personal and business perspective.

I am putting together my "Best of 2008" gallery right now, which will probably be a link directly from this page so check back in the next few days for that.

Asukabooks

As many of you know, I have featured Asukabooks as my primary album/book in my packages for the past year-and-a-half or so. This past week, they validated everything I thought about them in terms of customer service and attention to detail. From day one I was blown away by how much they really pay attention to what I send them to print, calling me on anything that looks like it, in any way, could be a mistake. You can't imagine how nice it is to have a company care so much who could otherwise just take my files and print away, never even giving it a second thought. Most online based book printers do just that. For Asuka this attention is the normal level of service, and until about a month ago, it had never failed. Then, due to some freak occurrences on my end and possibly theirs, I received two book orders in a row with "issues". Clearly, they were well within their rights to say that both things were my fault since they were visible in the final PDF that I review before final approval, but they didn't do that. They took partial responsibility for one and full responsibility for the other even though there was clearly blame to go around. Katie, a service manager (maybe the only one) for Asukabook could not have been nicer. She did her due diligence and asked me to send pictures of the issues and in the end, took a leap of faith that this was a (well two) isolated incident and credited me to get both books reprinted, one at significant cost to them. I just wanted to tell this story not to expose my errors, or theirs, but really to illustrate something that I believe in 100%; treat your customers with care and they will repay you ten-fold in good will. I try to do that with all my couples and I love that my vendors believe the same thing. Thank you Asukabooks.