So excited to share Favored by Yodit Events & Design was asked to share our advice in the new special Martha Stewart Weddings Annual Planner issue!
Engagement season is definitely upon us and this issue is the ultimate guide for dreaming up your big day! Inside you'll find expert planning tips, beautiful wedding-dress inspiration, wow-worthy cake ideas, inspiring real weddings and more. Make sure to pick up a copy on newsstands today!
Congrats to Black Bride magazine on the launch of their new summer special edition COVID-19 Guide! Look how stunning this cover is!
Thank you so much for including me as a contributor among so many other talented Event Pros! I hope brides and grooms-to-be will be inspired by all the valid sound professional advice we’re sharing during this unprecedented time in the world that continues to disrupt what we all knew as normal.
Click here to view the entire guide, chocked full sound advice, sprinkled with a little Black Bride Magic!
Enjoy,
Yodit
Get this cute Happy Eid wreath from Modern Eid
Celebrating Eid will be different this year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Although you can’t be together, you can still spread Eid cheer and celebration! We love the idea of making homemade baked goods delivering them contactless to a loved one’s doorstep. It let’s them know you’re thinking of them and can make you feel a bit closer during the quarantine holiday.
Photo credit Modern Eid
Here are some easy recipe ideas we’re loving:
Coffee Cake
You can pick up some pastry boxes from Target or Michaels and add a sweet note to the box for delivery. We’ve all become bakers while under quarantine anyway, haven’t we?
And don’t forget to get some face-to-face in and set up a zoom call for Eid day and connect with your loved ones! To add a special touch, check out our blog post Digital Invites for Virtual Celebrations.
Sending you continued prayers and Eid Mubarak to all celebrating!
xo
Photo credit Modern Eid
Having to postpone your wedding is not an easy fete. For many couple’s they invested alot of time & money dreaming of special ways to celebrate this important day in their lives and thanks to COVID-19 their plans were abruptly halted. I know it sucks, but the good thing is that you are not alone and your love is not cancelled.
Weddings have a way of bringing together loved ones and so many emotions and experiences—it’s what makes them beautiful. Joy. Sadness. Fear. Anticipation. Excitement. These things are an essential part of a wedding and it’s important to embrace that.
When it comes to your wedding, it’s important to remember that the whole point in having a celebration and a ceremony is that you and your partner share your commitments and promises to each other—everything else is icing on the cake.
Thats why my friend, Nikki Miller of Mae B Films and I thought it would be helpful to give couples affected by this some hope and creative ideas to still find ways to honor your original wedding date.
1. Date Night at Home
Your wedding date is special so why not plan a romantic date night at home to celebrate. Some ideas are to make it a spa night with couple’s massages, foot rubs or Netflix & Chill by watching a movie or your favorite series together! Currently my quarantine show obsessions have been Tiger King, Little Fires Everywhere, Ozark, Insecure & Dead to Me!
2. Cut the Cake
Reach out to your original wedding cake vendor and order a small version of your cake and have a mini cake cutting ceremony at home! You will be able to still smash cake in each other your faces and also support a small business which doesn't get any sweeter during these tough times.
3. Game Night with Personalized GigSaw Puzzle
Turn your engagement photos into a giant gig saw puzzle and assemble it together. Make it a fun game night by opening a bottle of wine, setting out a cheese board, and challenge each other to a bet on who can finish faster. A little bit of competition can be a great aphrodisiac! Zazzle and Shutterfly are two places you can order yours today
4. Have a Mini Wedding Ceremony
Due to COVID-19 intimate weddings are all the craze so you can still plan on getting married on your original date by having a small ceremony of 10 or less in your home, yard or place of worship if it's legal in your state. You can make it official by inviting your officiant and getting your marriage license at City Hall. To keep the lasting memories still hire your professional photographer to capture portraits and have a mini parade of friends and family to celebrate while still being safe and adhering to social distancing protocol while being witnesses to your special day.
5. Create a Memorable Masterpiece
You might had hired a live artist for your wedding, so why not commission a local artist like the talented Cris Clapp Logan to create a painting or drawing of your engagement or wedding portrait. Send a photo of you two and photo inspiration of your finalized wedding day attire and location so she can design what your wedding day was going to look like and then put up in your house.
6. Write and Recite Your Vows
Have a private vow ceremony between you and your partner, separate from the actual wedding ceremony. You can still recite your vows during your ceremony, but taking the time to do it alone and in private can be a way to have a really intimate and meaningful time with your spouse while quarantined.
7. Build a Time Capsule
Make a time capsule to remember these unprecedented time. It’s a great way to remember how you guys got through the pandemic together and add your wedding inspo, swatches, original save the date, wedding invitation, news clipping, any another other items that you can look back on years from now as a keepsake.
8. Saying ‘I do’ over Zoom
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, socially distanced weddings are moving online and getting popular. A search for #ZoomWedding on Instagram turns up over 100 photos of couples who’ve live-streamed their nuptials and you can even add a customized virtual back ground and still have all your friends and family close enough to hear their happy tears.
9. Have a Dance Party
Wedding receptions are a party after all, especially if you’ve booked a great band or DJ. You can make your own edition of #Clubquarantine with DJ DNice by asking your wedding DJ to create a special wedding playlist via Spotify or play on IG Live and invite your guests to all dance the night away.
10. Give the Gift of Love
In celebration of our wedding and in lieu of gifts ask guests to donate to a charity or cause in your honor. Organizations like Unicef, The Red Cross, your local hospital and food bank are just a few places that are helping a lot of people in need during this tough time.
11. Wedding Dinner at Home
Cook a meal together inspired by your wedding menu or order it from your caterer since they might be doing at home delivery meals like Heirloom Catering, Ridgewells Catering or Occasions Caterers.
12. Cheers to Us
Pop your favorite bubbly and have a special champagne toast with just you two! Cheers to good health, lots of love and more years of happily ever after!
13. Fresh Florals
Order flowers that match your color scheme or contact your floral designer to make a sample of your selected boutonniere, bouquet or centerpieces to brighten up the day.
14. Have a First Look
A First Look is a moment during the wedding day when the Bride and Groom plan to see each other for the first time. The First Look allows couples to share this special moment together in a more private setting. So why not wear your wedding colors and do a first look to model your outfit.
15. Do a Gift Exchange
Everyone wants to feel special, cherished and loved. Especially from that someone special with whom they decide to spend the rest of their life with. So plan a wedding day gift exchange and give each other the gifts like you would have on the morning of your wedding day. Remember you can support small businesses and order the gift online or you can make it yourself, whatever the case pick something which symbolizes the official start of your journey as a couple.
16. Make a Snapchat Geotag
Want to personalize your original wedding date even more? Create a Snapchat geofilter and share with your guests and have them send you video well wishes and you can read them together that night!
17. Recreate Your Late Night Bites
You planned to surprise your family and friends with delicious treats toward the end of your reception, so why not still enjoy your late-night snacks that you would have served at the wedding at home. Order some bite-size crowd favorites from your neighborhood delivery spot that have mini sliders, gourmet french fries, donuts, cookies, asian take out or grilled cheese just to name a few.
18. Have Your First Dance
Practice your first dance song or create a choreographic dance on Tiki Tok and share it on social media for your friends to try it too. Don't forget to use your wedding hashtag to keep track of all the fun shared and check out the #firstdancechallenge to get inspired from other people's wedding first dances.
19. Virtual Cocktail Hour
Host your cocktail hour virtually with your bridal party, family & friends and send the recipe to your signature cocktails so everyone can recreate it and drink it together online.
20. Create a Honeymoon Suite
Decorate your bedroom and mentally travel to your own honeymoon oasis. Have fun with it by including rose petals, scented oils, mini hotel amenities from online and chocolates by your pillow to make your at home honeymoon a truly unforgettable moment for you and your love.
Hope you enjoy these ideas and remember at the end of the day, it’s truly about the two of you and not anyone else.
Even though we can’t be together, we can still come together! And we’re loving Paperless Post new creative digital invitation designs for spring celebrations like Easter, Passover & Ramadan!
Let this be a reminder that even during a pandemic, you can’t cancel family! Browse more of their holiday invitations here & look forward to seeing all the celebrations!
We know the past couple of weeks have been a complete whirlwind and hope you are taking care of yourself in these difficult times as we all are facing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and taking all the necessary steps to be safe & healthy as a community!
To our brides and grooms, rest assured we are ready, willing, and able to still plan your special events even if postponed. Please remind yourselves this too shall pass, and when the dust settles, our team will still be here for you!
Here are a few tips to consider when planning a wedding during the corona virus pandemic:
#1 Keep Calm: I know it’s easier said than done, but honestly stressing yourself is never a good idea so breathe and read below.
#2 Speak With Your Vendors: We are here to help navigate you through your wedding planning journey and it’s best to reach out to us first to think of the worst scenarios and solutions so you can prepare and come up with a game plan together. Remember to revisit all your vendor contracts to see what might happen if you need to cancel or postpone your wedding at this time and come up a plan to celebrate later.
#3 Follow CDC Guidelines: We recommend to pay attention to what the experts (CDC) are saying and taking their advice. Pay close attention to what venues & businesses are allowed to do in your area and how you can make sure your guests are safe. We understand this is the most important day in your life, but the last thing you want in your celebration is to make a lot of people sick.
#4 Inform Your Guests: To avoid having to constantly field questions from family members and wedding guests, we suggest proactively adding a blurb to your wedding website or mail out an insert to your invitation suite acknowledging the coronavirus, and letting guests know you will keep them in the loop should any plans change. You can also go as far as adding a link to the CDC website in the ‘travel and accommodations’ section of your wedding website so guests can quickly access up-to-date and accurate information as well.
#5 Practice Extra Hygiene: Our team is following the CDC guidelines of basic human hygiene and sanitization which means washing our hands and/or using hand sanitizer every time we’re in public places, touch elevator buttons, open a door, and avoiding touching our faces especially when we’re working. We recommend communicating with all vendors to also see what they are doing to keep themselves and your wedding party/guests safe.
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones, and please feel free to reach out if there is anything we can help you with. We are working hard to keep you updated and safe. Sending you all continued prayers and love and look forward to celebrating with you soon!
For more on COVID-19, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here, and the World Health Association here.
In honor of National Bow Tie Day, I attended the Annual Tie One On D.C. event hosted by Pike Productions at The gorgeous National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Here are some snaps from the event!
Let’s just say the party was amazing and I’m officially obsessed with this gorgeous venue that hosts all types of social, corporate & wedding events!
So excited to be a part of the Coffee & Conversation panel with other industry disruptors hosted by DC Wedding Week! The event will be on August 2, 2018 at the new Fostr Collaborative and we'll be talking all about the lessons we've learned throughout our experiences while enjoying some coffee provided by Grace Street Coffee.
We'll have a chance to meet and network before the panel begins so I hope to see you there.
Click here to grab your ticket and for more information about the event!
xo
Yodit
Are you a vendor looking to gain some more insight into the best way to communicate effectively with your event planners? Or maybe a planner looking to get the most out of your vendors while maintaining a great and continuing relationship? This is the event for you and I'm happy to say I'll be a part of it!
The registration for Vendors and Planners: Finding Peace in the Wedding Planning Process is now open.
Hosted by SESMA, vendors and planners alike will be holding open and honest conversations about the ways that we can improve our working relationships, making for better experiences for everyone. More event details are below, and you can find the registration site at the link above. Hope to see you there!
Where: United States Institution of Peace
2301 Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20037
When: Thursday, July 26
6:00 - 9:00 PM
The full line-up of Tasty6's milks and juices.
Today's spotlight is on Tasty6, a DC-based company that specializes in providing delicious, nutrient-dense foods and juices.
Their mission is to combine Western nutritional science with Eastern healing wisdom. Essentially, they take their knowledge of each ingredient's nutritional functionality and integrate it with the ancient healing science of "Ayurveda," which uses the principles of nature to maintain health in a person. This results in a unique, super-nutritious menu of balanced and healing juices and foods.
Intrigued? Keep reading and you'll find Carol's diary of her experience with Tasty6's 3-day Reboot cleanse, let's just say it's a bit of a rollercoaster...
Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE the idea of doing cleanses. I may complain the entire time while doing them, but any opportunity to clean out my system of any toxins and I'm all over it. When an old high school friend approached me about Tasty6 and all of the cleanses and juices they have to offer, as a bride-to-be (at the time), I was all about it. I'm an event planner, so my schedule's pretty hectic and I don't have a lot of time for loads of prep, so the pre-packaged 3-day cleansed seemed like the perfect fit. No cooking for three days? Where do I sign!
First Impressions
I received a great welcome email two days before I was supposed to start, detailing everything I was going to receive and what I needed to do to prepare. I loved that my welcome email also included mindfulness suggestions and encouraged not only a physical cleanse but also a spiritual one. The next day I received a call that my cleanse had arrived. When I went to retrieve it, I was expecting a random courier but instead I was greeted by a Tasty6 employee! What a great way to start.
Day One
So I have an issue with textures. The Chia Breakfast Bowl (above right) was not my friend. I only took a few bites before I decided that I just couldn't stomach it. Don't get me wrong, it didn't taste bad, I just couldn't do it. I thought I would be hungry for the rest of the morning since my breakfast was... light, but surprisingly I was fine. Drinking a juice every 90 minutes as suggested kept me satisfied. Lunch was a small salad, again this was good, but I would've preferred to just drink the juices. For the most part, I enjoyed all the juices, the only one I struggled with
was the Staminator (red beets are the main ingredient). It is very beet-y and strong, but I finished it like a boss! The second half of the day I felt like I was rushing to drink all of the juices. I hope that tomorrow I have a better handle on the timing. The last juice of day was the Mighty Almond. I don't like milk or anything close to it unless mixed with my coffee or ice cream. I struggled. I did not pass go or collect my $200. This drink fell into the abyss along with my Chia Breakfast Bowl.
Day Two
Who told me to do a cleanse over a weekend? I have got to start making better decisions. Of course on this day I have a full day planned, including a birthday bar crawl (did I mention you can't drink on this cleanse?). Thankfully, I have an insulated lunch box and those handy-dandy ice packs, so I took my juices on the road. While everyone was taking shots of whiskey, I was taking shots of Tasty6! All jokes aside, I was happy that I could be so mobile and not have to worry about how I was going to stay on task. Today I was in the groove as far as timing goes, so I didn't feel the pressure of having to rush. I also started to physically feel lighter. Even got compliments that my skin was glowing! This may be TMI, but we're family right? I thought I was going to have to use the bathroom a lot but I didn't.
Day Three
It's the last day, woo hoo! I woke up legitimately feeling lighter and my typical cravings for sugar weren't as overwhelming. I finally was accustomed to all of the juices, even the beet one wasn't difficult to finish. Maybe since it was the last day, my willpower to finish was just stronger. I also decided to skip all of the food items today and just do the juices. I still felt satisfied and wasn't hungry at all.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I enjoyed the cleanse. A few of the drinks like the Silhouette (above) and the Immunoxer, I can see myself regularly purchasing to drink. I didn't particularly enjoy the food options; I definitely would've preferred a juice-only option if they had it. Three days was the perfect length of time! Long enough that I could feel the difference, but not so long that I wanted to chew my arm off. I'd definitely recommend this, it's a great jumpstart to a diet/lifestyle change or even just a quick refresh.
Our friends at Tasty6 have graciously given us promo code so that you all can enjoy the benefits of their amazing juices too! Use the code FAVOREDBYYODIT at checkout for 20% off your first purchase.
To see where you can find Tasty6 locally, check out their 'Where to Find Us' page and be sure to let us know what you think!
For 2018, one of my resolutions was to participate in more speaking events so that I'd be able to share my experiences with a wider audience. I'm happy to announce that I'm conquering my resolution early in the year, by joining the Association of Wedding Professionals of Greater Washington, DC at their January dinner meeting. This panel will focus on multicultural and fusion weddings, a market that we're happy to have a lot of experience with here at FBY.
I'd love it if you were able to join me tomorrow, January 23, from 6-9 PM. The event will take place at SOHO DC in Adams Morgan and is $45 for member and $55 for non-members.
Hope to see you there!
Hi there!
As you can see, we've done a bit of redesigning and reconstructing over here at Favored by Yodit Events & Design. While we hope you enjoy (and utilize) our new site and it's design, we hope you love this blog just as much!
We want this to be a place that you come to for inspiration, motivation, and all things lifestyle, fashion, wedding and events related.
Favored by Yodit Events & Design is dedicated to providing the highest quality event planning and design services and this blog will help us help you. We'll share mood boards, the inside scoop on great events throughout the area, restaurant and venue reviews, interviews with some of the DMV's best vendors, giveaways and so much more! We'll also be keeping you up-to-date on what we're doing over here at Favored by Yodit Events & Design, as well as resources that would be great for you as you navigate through your planning journey.
Thank you so much for joining us in our little corner of the internet and we can't wait to see you back!
Stay Favored,
Yodit
Need to find the perfect ring for your perfect girl? We have the perfect event for you. The Ultimate Ring Event is being held on February 24th and 25th at I Gorman Jewelers. You’ll have the chance to browse through hundreds of engagement rings and wedding bands. Guys, you can come alone or with your bride to be, there will be eight incredible designers to help you custom design and pick the perfect ring. Explore a wide selection of loose diamonds and one of a kind gemstones. As an added bonus you will receive 10% off all purchases during the event. For a full list of designers and more details click here.
Combine date night with wedding planning at one of DC's premier wedding venues, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on March 3, 2017 for The Engaged! Event. “We are giving couples the opportunity to meet and greet the best of the best wedding vendors, establish a rapport and book appointments to further discuss wants and needs for the wedding day. The Engaged! Event will serve as your efficient introduction to the finest wedding professionals and services in one evening!”
For full details and to buy tickets, click here.
Spice up your Valentine's Day plans with a sexy workout with Bae! Join Master Trainer Deanna Jefferson and her Celebrity Chef beau JR Robinson on February 15th for a date night you will never forget. For full details and to buy tickets, click here.
